


Scattered Embers

by TokoWH



Category: Legend of Spyro, Spyro, Spyro the Dragon (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, Recursive Fanfiction, semi-crossover
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-24
Updated: 2014-05-21
Packaged: 2018-01-05 23:24:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 60,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1099779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TokoWH/pseuds/TokoWH
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She was his number one fangirl, though he just found her nothing more than an annoying pest. However, after a series of events thrust the two into an adventure spanning a multitude of worlds, she just might be his only hope of returning home in one piece...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue pt. 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone, I'm TokoWH. This is probably my first true fic in a while now. It started out as a 'self-imposed challenge' of sorts, in which I'm using a character not many people care for as the main character. I've seen other fics pull her off quite well though, so I thought I'd give it a try too. With what I have in store... Let's just say she's going to be growing a lot over the fic.
> 
> I would like to thank Riverstyxx on FF.N for beta-reading the prologue for me. 
> 
> Without further ado, on with the fic.

_You'd be surprised at how much one can change when pushed to their limits._

* * *

The sun shone brightly on the Dragon Realms. It was a mostly colorful and cheery place, with floating castles, bright green fields, and a generally content atmosphere. Despite the era of peace upon the lands, occasionally a trouble-maker or two would pop up to try to disrupt that peace, be it for power, absolute rule, or even something as petty as an insult. However, despite all the problems they might have caused, none of them succeeded in their plans thanks to a rather famous purple dragon.

Spyro the dragon was well-known for his exploits, foiling the plans of many would-be overlords at such a young age. Many dragons had wondered amongst themselves if he was destined for something greater, like something out of a legend. Yes, with nothing more than the ability to breathe short bursts of fire, and a strong head... Maybe a bit _too_ strong.

Though the young dragon had the heart of hero, he was also brash, cocky, and rarely took his 'work' seriously. He only jumped at his first adventure because it seemed like fun, and loved to taunt his foes. His hero status not helping his already over-inflated ego, Spyro thought rather highly of himself. To him, he wasn't just _a_ hero... He was _the_ hero.

Spyro was currently sitting in a beach chair next to a pool in the Artisan world, sunglasses covering his eyes as he rested the back of his head on his paws. It had been unusually sunny in the Artisan world as of late, but Spyro didn't mind as he grinned to himself. It was rare for the homeland he grew up in to have great weather like this. It was almost like that time he went to Dragon Shores... Well, after he kicked Ripto's butt, of course.

The purple dragon stretched. Clearly there was nothing that could ruin this day...

_"Spyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyrrrooooooooooooo!"_

Then again, maybe he spoke too soon. As the purple dragon tumbled over himself and out of the chair, he frowned. Picking himself up and tossing his now destroyed sunglasses away, he glared at the pink dragoness heading his way.

Ah, yes. For every hero, there would always be that one loony fangirl who worshipped the ground they walked on. For Spyro, that loony fangirl...was Ember.

In truth, Spyro didn't really know much about this dragoness. She sort of just showed up shortly after he rescued all the dragon eggs and beat the Sorceress into submission. As far as he could tell, she came from a rather far away part of the Dragon Realms just to see him. When he first heard of it, he felt a sense of pride that word of his achievements had gone so far. Though, that quickly vanished when this dragoness started dropping 'hints' about a possible future together.

Spyro groaned as he pressed his paw to his head. He looked up to see the pink dragonness staring back at him from the other side of the beach chair.

"What do you want, Ember?" he asked flatly. The pink dragonness seemed oblivious to his obvious disdain as she chuckled slightly.

"Oh, not much... I just came to tell you the Professor's looking for you," she said with an innocent smile on her face. Spyro raised an eyebrow.

"The Professor? What does he want?" Spyro asked. It had been some time since he had defeated the Sorceress and last seen his old allies, and he knew the Professor wasn't one to make social calls.

"Not really sure," Ember said as she placed a claw to her chin. "He was talking about sensing some odd activity in the area, then he started to use big words when explaining what it was, and then... Well..." Ember trailed off, giving a nervous chuckled as she rubbed the back of her neck. "I kind of...fell asleep."

Admittedly, Spyro found it hard not to blame the dragoness despite how she annoyed him. The Professor _did_ tend to ramble a lot. Even Spyro doubted he understood half the stuff he was saying most of the time.

"Tell him I'll be on the way as soon as I get Sparx," Spyro said as he was about to walk off. He tensed up when he heard the words he was hoping the dragoness wouldn't say.

"I don't suppose...maybe... We could walk to him together?" she asked somewhat slyly, a warm smile on her face. "After all, I know how much you like me and all..."

Spyro sighed as he rubbed his temples.

"Yes... Because I've made that _soooooooooo_ obvious," he said under his breath before he turned to face her with a phony smile on his face.

"Sorry Ember, but uhhh... You know how much the Professor hates waiting!" Spyro slowly started to back away. "Yeah! I need to hurry! You can go on ahead if you want, I'll catch up as soon as I get Sparx!" he lied, and bolted off.

"Spyro! Wai—!" she called, reaching out with her paw. Before she could do anything, the purple dragon had already darted off in a cloud of smoke. She frowned sadly as she watched him run off into the distance before looking over to the pool he had been resting by moments before.

Walking over to it, she stared at the sad reflection looking back at her. She touched the heart pendant she always wore around her neck before resting her paw on her cheek. She didn't understand why Spyro never seemed to want to be around her, despite the fact that she made her affection for him readily apparent. Was she not attractive? True, she didn't have a super slender frame like most dragonesses, but...

She sighed, staring at the image looking sadly back at her.

* * *

In a dimly lit area, a figure in a robe had been watching the scene unfold through what appeared to be a mirror. A slight scoff escaped her lips as she turned around, straining to move as she lent on her staff for support. In the darkness, a rather short fellow with a single horn jetting from his head frowned.

"Can we turn on some freaking lights in this place!? I can barely see my hands in front of my face!" the being complained. The figure in the robe merely shot him a glare.

"Silence," she said before a rather brutish figure stood forth.

"I'm with Ripto here. As a villain, I can appreciate ambient darkness, but seriously!" the brute said as Ripto waved his scepter at him.

"See! Even Gnasty agrees with me!" Ripto said as he started looking from side to side. "Seriously, where is the light switch in this place...?"

"Shut up! The both of you!" the robed figure snapped, stomping the bottom of the staff down on the ground and causing the two villains to jump in surprise. She took a moment to regain her composure before speaking up.

"Now then, I am sure you know why I called you here..." she said, walking over to the mirror again. "I believe we all share a common adversary."

The mirror now showed a rather iconic purple dragon grinning cockily at them. Both Ripto and Gnasty scowled at the sight, the smaller of the two crossing his arms.

"Ugh... If there's one thing I hate more than dragons, it's _purple_ dragons," Ripto said. Gnasty raised his mace into the air.

"That little dragon... If it wasn't for him, all of dragon kind would still be stuck as statues!" Gnasty said, remembering how his plan to get revenge on dragon kind was foiled by such a young monstrosity.

"Yes, yes... We all have our reasons for hating this little purple beast," the figure in the robe summed as she started to walk over to her chair. "As such, I believe this old saying applies here. The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

She sat down in the chair with a slight grunt of pain. Ripto scowled as he looked at the robed figure.

"So, what are you planning on doing? I take it the fact that you're more or less begging us for help means you had just as much luck with that purple dragon as the rest of us," he stated in a matter-of-fact tone, a smug look on his face. The robed figure growled in annoyance, but quickly regained her composure.

"Indeed. My past encounter with that little pest wasn't exactly... _pleasant,_ " she said, an arm extending from her robe to reveal rather sickly burn marks that appeared to be far more advanced than anything fire alone could do. Both Ripto and Gnasty reeled back at the sight, a shiver shooting down their spines. As she retracted her arm back into her robe, her voice took on a serious tone. "... And that's exactly why I called you all here. I have a plan to make that little monster suffer for what he did to me... But I need some help with it."

Gnasty grunted at the comment.

"And I suppose that's where we come in," he said. The robed figure nodded under her hood.

"Indeed. I believe both of you are rather adept in magic, are you not?" she asked. Ripto almost laughed.

"Please! When I was three, I was already teleporting people to the moon with my magic!" he said with a smug, proud look on his face. The robed figure barely acknowledged the comment before turning to Gnasty.

"I also believe you mentioned earlier how you made a spell that can turn dragons to stone, did you not?" she asked. Gnasty gave a nod in response.

"Yes. However, in case you weren't listening, for whatever reason it doesn't seem to affect that purple beast," Gnasty said. The robed figure shook her head.

"Details. What I have planned will require a similar spell. It'll be a simple matter of figuring out what causes that dragon to resist the spell, and work around it," she said. Ripto seemed annoyed by this explanation.

"So, what? You want to turn him to stone? Bleh. I thought there was going to be more torture involved," he said flatly, pouting and crossing his arms.

The robed figure gave him an annoyed glance before lowering her staff and caressing the crystal-like shard on top of it. It gave off a faint purple glow.

"Oh, trust me, Ripto. After what I have planned for him, he'll _wish_ it was torture," the robed figure stated flatly, an almost sadistic grin finding its way onto her rather burnt lips. "Yes... Once this is done, that dragon will be out of our hair for good."

An evil laugh began to fill the air, growing more menacing with each passing second. Ripto paused and slowly glanced at Gnasty. The Gnorc shrugged.

As the evil laughter died down, the robed figure turned back towards the mirror. "Now, all we need is a way to bait the dragon here. And I think I know just the thing..."

* * *

Sparx darted through the sky as Spyro soared through the portal to Avalar. Though it brought back memories of when he had first, unexpectedly, visited the realm, much had changed since then. The Professor had finally perfected long-distance teleportation portals to set one up reliably between there and the Dragon Realms—thanks in no small part to Spyro's efforts in recollecting all the orbs during Ripto's attack.

Spyro soon popped out in a high-tech laboratory, not far away from a mole in a white lab coat and glasses. The mole turned around at the noise, and smiled.

"Ah, Spyro! I was wondering when you would get here. I was beginning to think that pink dragon got lost or something," he said as Spyro walked over to him with an apprehensive look on his face.

"Yeah, about that, Professor... Couldn't you have sent someone else?" Spyro asked as he rubbed the back of his head with his wing.

The Professor chuckled, continuing to write things down on his notepad despite the conversation going on. "I'm sorry about that, Spyro, but I needed you here as soon as possible, and that pink dragon has a rather uncanny ability when it comes to locating you."

Spyro rolled his eyes.

 _'Tell me about it...'_ he thought silently to himself as the Professor turned to the large computer in front of him.

"Anyway," the Professor broke the silence, typing some commands into the computer as a holographic image of the Dragon Realms appeared on-screen. "Lately, I've been getting some rather odd readings from the Dragon Realms. Normally I wouldn't concern myself with that, as the Dragon Realms are more magical than technological, so I'm always getting odd readings from there..."

The Professor turned back to look at Spyro. "However, not only are these readings much more powerful in nature than what I normally get, it's also picking up some electronic interference as well..."

"Tell me, Spyro, is there anything big going on in the Dragon Realms at the moment?" he asked. Spyro put his wing to his chin.

"Um... Nothing I can really think of," he said. The Professor was looking increasingly worried.

"That was what I was afraid of," he said, turning back to the computer. "You see, Spyro, not long ago I had breach of security. I'm still not entirely sure how it happened..."

He brought up a screen that showed a main part of the laboratory. "One minute, there was no one there, and then the next..."

The screen flashed a soft shade of purple and several new beings suddenly appeared in the laboratory. Spyro stood wide-eyed in shock. He knew those beings all too well.

"Wh-what!? Gnorcs!? Rhynocs!?" he exclaimed in surprise. The Professor's expression remained unchanged.

"Indeed. I may have a limited grasp when it comes to magic, but even then my machines are usually able to analyze the properties of a spell and block most teleportation magic. However, whenever I try to see what kind of spell can get past my defences, all I get are error messages. I don't suppose you can identify it?" he asked. Spyro just stood there with a confused look on his face.

"N-not really..." he muttered.

Though he had seen and used several kinds of magic in his adventures, he had never heard of a teleportation spell like that. Mass teleportation usually required a portal as a base to channel the magic power, and even Bianca's teleportation spells usually left behind a rainbow trail and weren't nearly as instantaneous as that. The Professor shook his head as he turned back to the computer screen.

"Well, regardless of how they got in, they managed to steal a bunch of my experimental long-range teleportation portals. Agent 9 tried his best to fight them off, but more and more kept teleporting in and out before we could get the situation under control." The Professor glared back at Spyro. "Now, I'm not sure what they could want with that kind of technology, but I'm almost certain it has to do with the strange readings I've been getting."

Spyro smirked, a slight chuckle escaping his lips. "No worries, Professor! I'll torch their butts so bad they'll never try anything like this again!"

He was about to charge off to deal with the unwanted intruders, but quickly paused and looked back at the Professor with a sheepish grin. "...Um, by the way, where _exactly_ are those readings coming from?"

The Professor nearly face-palmed.

"Well, I'm not exactly sure," the Professor said as he brought up a map of the Dragon Realms. "All I can say for certain is that it's somewhere near the Magic Crafters homeland. I've sent Agent 9 to investigate, but so far I haven't heard back."

Spyro was mildly annoyed by the lack of a definitive location. "Well then, looks like I better get searching," he said in a less-than-enthusiastic voice as he started to walk away.

"Yes, you should," said the Professor. "I'll contact the others as soon as I can to help you in your search. In the mean time, be careful. There's no telling what those gnorcs and rhynocs are up to."

The cocky grin reappeared on Spyro's face.

"Heh, please. Those gnorcs and rhynocs better be careful of _me_!" he exclaimed as he darted off. The Professor shook his head at the young dragon's overconfidence.

_'As the old saying goes, overconfidence precedes carelessness...'_

* * *

Ember sighed to herself as she sulked in the middle of the temple. The decor was truly that of what the Artisans were famous for, with marble floors and breath-taking pillars sculptured into various dragons with exquisite detail. Blue silk curtains with the Artisan symbol embroidered on them glistened as the sun shone through them, and murals painted with the finest detail graced the walls. It was truly a sight to behold. Though, right now, Ember couldn't care less.

Though she had to admit it was quite nice, the famous Artisan designs were mainly just an excuse she had used to convince her parents to let her stay with her uncle for a week. Her first and foremost goal had always been to have a chance to see her hero, Spyro.

Spyro's story had spread far and wide throughout the Realms, and Ember had always followed every one of them. She thought Spyro was awesome, being so heroic and accomplishing such things despite being no older than her. She had always wanted to meet him, to be friends and one day maybe even something more. Yet Spyro would barely acknowledge her existence when she was around, and always ran off shortly after. It was such a crushing feeling to not be recognized by one's idol...

"Ah, there you are," a voice said. Ember looked towards the temple's entrance. There stood an adult green dragon, walking on two legs. He gave Ember a sympathetic look. "Your parents called. They wanted to check up on how you were doing."

Ember looked away for a seconds with slightly depressed look on her face, but she quickly turned back and gave a fake smile.

"Uncle Tomas… Tell them I'm doing just fine," she said. Tomas raised an eyebrow. He could tell that the young dragoness wasn't being honest.

"Really?" he asked as he walked over to his niece and sat down, draping one of his massive wings over her. "You certainly don't seem fine to me."

Ember paused and looked away before sighing and resting her head on the ground.

"Why doesn't Spyro like me?" she asked, staring at the ground. "I don't understand. The whole reason I went on this trip was just to see him, but..."

Tomas chuckled a little. "I kind of figured as much, what with how you seemed so disinterested in our famous architecture you begged your parents to let you see in person." He put one of his claws to his chin. "Well... That, and how you kept dropping hints of engagement rings whenever Spyro was around."

He chuckled before looking down at the young dragoness with a gentle smile. "...You really like Spyro, don't you?"

Ember seemed to perk up at the comment.

"Oh, yes! Very much!" she said, sitting up with a smile on her face. "I mean, what's not to like? He's strong, heroic, and gets to go on such awesome adventures!" she exclaimed, getting a bit lost in the moment as she put her paws on her cheeks.

"He's just so...all around awesome!" She swooned. Tomas couldn't help but laugh at the young dragoness.

"Sounds like you're quite the Spyro fangirl," he said. The comment knocked Ember out of her fantasy for a second. She looked up at her uncle with a slightly annoyed expression.

"It's more than just being a fangirl, uncle!" she said. "I love him! And I know we're meant to be together!"

Her uncle didn't seem too convinced. "Oh? And how so?" This got him a confused look from Ember. "How is it you know that you and Spyro are meant to be, despite only knowing him from his adventures and barely talking to him for a few days?"

Ember smirked, opened her mouth to respond…and then paused, a bit shocked when she realised how hard it was to come up with a definite answer to that question. She sat silently in thought for a few seconds, earning a raised eyebrow from Tomas.

"Well... When I'm around him, I—"

"Yes, you've made it very apparent how you feel about him. However, have you ever thought of how Spyro feels?" Tomas asked, causing Ember to bite her lower lip. "Does Spyro feel the same way?"

Ember was silent.

"Uh... I-I...I don't know," she said, looking away from her uncle sheepishly. "I barely ever get to talk to him. And when I do, he ends up running away..." She looked down sadly.

"Bu-but! I know if I can just be with him for a bit, he'll realize that we were meant to be together!" she exclaimed hastily.

Tomas gave a soft chuckle at her persistence.

"Really? Isn't that what you said about 'Pete the Dragon'?" Tomas asked, getting a slightly flustered look from Ember.

"Th-this is different, uncle! Pete was just a character in those old story books! Spyro is actually real!" she replied, reminded of the heroic green dragon from those childish story books she read when she was younger. The thought of her old childish crush on the fictional character embarrassed her greatly. Tomas couldn't help smirk at the bright blush on his niece's face.

"Regardless, I can't help but remember you referring to him once as 'strong, heroic, and gets to go on such awesome adventures', as well as 'all around awesome'," Tomas said. Ember finally started to get fed up with her uncle questioning her relationship with her idol.

"What's with the third degree!? Why can't you believe that Spyro and I were meant to be together!?" she snapped. Tomas put his paw on his chin with a slight grin.

"Well, young one, for you, the concept of love is still new. You should be careful. Obsessively following a crush can lead one to making some rather poor decisions..." He gently patted the pouting dragoness. "Trust me. When you've been around as long as I have; when you have truly found someone you care about, someone you will want to spend your life with... You'll know it." There was a slightly nostalgic yet sad look on his face.

Ember looked away as she remembered how her aunt had passed away a few years ago. It had been rather hard on Tomas, though he mostly kept it to himself. Thinking that maybe that was why he was questioning her feelings for the purple dragon, she was about to speak up, but Tomas quickly continued.

"In due time, you'll understand what I mean. You're still young. You have plenty of time to look for a suitable mate in the future. For now, you should enjoy your youth, as you'll be surprised by how quickly it can go by. Why, I remember…" Tomas trailed off, and Ember sighed and tuned him out.

 _'But... I just_ _know_ _Spyro and I were meant to be together. If only the two of us could spend some time together alone. Oh, how I wish that could happen...'_ she thought to herself as she lay down on the ground.

**_BLAM!_ **

Suddenly, an explosion rocked the temple and the tranquil scene was cut short. Tomas was knocked out of his ramblings, and he jumped up and looked towards where it had come from. Ember jumped with fright. She heard shouts from several dragons, followed by more explosions. As the sound of footsteps headed their way, Tomas turned to her.

"Quick! _Hide!_ " Tomas shouted.

Ember shook with fear as she looked around frantically for a place to hide. As the footsteps continued to head their way, Tomas charged towards the door and slammed it shut, leaning against it in hope of keeping out whatever was heading their way.

Realizing there wasn't much time, Ember darted behind a pillar. She didn't dare to take a peep as she heard several slams against the door that Tomas was attempting to hold shut. Finally, something gave way. Tomas was pushed back and the door swung open. He rubbed his sore back as he opened his eyes, shocked at the sight before him.

"Gah! Why did she send us on this stupid goose chase, anyways!? We could have already bagged Spyro in the time it's taking us to find this stupid pink dragon!" one of the two beings shouted.

"Beats me. I would have preferred getting our revenge as soon as possible, but I'm not complaining about getting the chance to use my crystallization spell again," the other voice said in a brutish manner.

Ember tensed up at the voices. Having learned every single detail about Spyro's adventures, it didn't take long for her to realize who the two beings were. _'Gnasty Gnorc and Ripto!? What are they doing here!?'_ she thought in a panic, trembling as she didn't dare make a noise.

 _'W-wait... Pink dragon...? Th-they couldn't...'_ Ember gulped silently. Pink being an unusual scale color for even female dragons, it didn't take much to put two and two together.

"You two!" Tomas exclaimed as he quickly took a fighting stance. "What are you doing here!? I thought Spyro banished you all from the Dragon Realms!"

Ripto merely scoffed at the comment. "Really? Because being banished is _so_ going to stop us from wreaking havoc on the realm!"

Gnasty stepped forward and raised his massive club towards Tomas. "We're looking for a pink dragonness. She's rather young, and for what we understand, has some sort of romantic connection towards Spyro."

Ember started to sweat. Any hope she'd had that there could be another pink dragoness in the area had been dashed. Tomas' expression remained unchanged. He was ready to strike at the slightest move.

"Well, I'm afraid you're going to be sorely disappointed," he said flatly. "There are no pink dragons here, and even if they were, I doubt Spyro would have any romantic interest in them."

Had it not be for the sheer amount of terror she was feeling at that moment, Ember would have spoken up to protest her uncle's comment.

"Don't try playing the hero here, gramps!" Ripto said, waving his scepter towards the dragon. "We know she's somewhere in this temple, and we're going to find her even if we have to tear this place apart!"

Tomas let out a low growl in response. "Well then, you'll have to go through me first!"

He charged at the pair with claws and fangs bared. The mighty dragon slashed at Gnasty Gnorc, who blocked with his massive club. Not wasting a second, Tomas spun around and smacked Gnasty on the side with his tail, knocking the gnorc off-balance and sending him stumbling back.

Tomas was about to capitalize on the opportunity, but was caught off guard when he was hit by a ball of fire to the back, which sent him stumbling to the ground. Ripto ran in and jumped on his back, smacking him on the head with his staff several times. Tomas thrashed about and, just as he flung Ripto off him and towards a wall, he was met with a mighty punch to the face from Gnasty. It sent him stumbling back as the gnorc charged in with his club.

Coming to just in time to jump back, Tomas avoided the gnorc's club. It smashed the floor instead and sent several chunks of marble flying. He noticed Ripto charging at him from the side, and didn't miss a beat. Just as Ripto jumped at him, staff raised, Tomas spun around and sent Ripto flying towards Gnasty.

As the gnorc caught Ripto, Ember dared to sneak a peek at her uncle's battle. While Gnasty was distracted, Tomas opened his mighty jaws and a fierce glow started to illuminate from within. Just as the two caught sight of what the elder dragon was up to, a massive wall of flames shot from his maw and engulfed the hall in a fierce reddish-orange hue. Ember almost gave herself away, but caught herself just in time before she could cheer her uncle on. Her fear subsiding a little at the sight of how well her uncle was handling the duo, she watched in awe as he finally ceased his bellows of fire with several deep breaths.

However, as the smoke started to clear, Ember gasped in shock. Ripto's scepter was aglow, and a mighty shield surrounded the duo. Tomas let out a low growl. Ripto smirked as he dissipated the shield.

"C'mon! Don't tell me _that's_ the best you got!?" he taunted as Gnasty laughed smugly.

"To think, an elder having trouble with a pair a youngling managed to defeat? And here I thought dragons were fierce!" Gnasty proclaimed. When he noticed the sharp look Ripto had given him, he scratched his head.

Tomas was panting heavily. Though he didn't want to admit it, he had been hoping that would be enough to stop the pair. His movements heavy, the dragon charged at the duo again with claws and fangs bared. Before he could get close this time, Ripto's scepter glowed icy blue. A burst of ice slammed into Tomas' chest, knocking the wind out of him as ice encased his chest and arms, causing him to fall over.

Ripto grinned smugly as he twirled his scepter. "Please. This was slightly interesting at first, but now you're just starting to annoy me. Gnasty!"

The gnorc nodded in agreement and a green glow flowed over his mace. As Tomas struggled to stand up, he could only watch in horror as the bright green blast headed his way.

A flash of light filled the room and Ember rubbed her eyes. As she glanced over to see what had happened, she was terrified to see a crystal dragon statue where her uncle had been. She quickly hid behind the pillar again. The amount of fear she was feeling now was immensely worse than anything she had felt before. All she could hear was the obnoxious laughter of two of the most infamous villains to dragon kind. She prayed that her hero would show up to save her in her greatest time of need.

"I don't normally say this, but nice work," Ripto said as he glanced around the room. "This is the last room we haven't checked in this ugly temple, so that annoying pink dragon should be in here somewhere."

Ember felt her heart sink as she heard them spread out to look around the room. Her eyes darted around to see if there was any possible way to escape. She knew time was growing short...

"C'mon out, you stupid dragon!" Ripto called as he looking under one of the curtains in the room. "We're going to find you even if we have to tear this temple apart!"

Ember's heart raced. She debated running towards the door while the two were distracted, but she had heard of how Gnasty managed to easily keep a steady pace ahead of Spyro in their first battle, so she doubted she could outrun him. While she continued to think of a plan of escape, she didn't notice the shadow looming over her.

"Aha!" Gnasty proclaimed.

Ember shrieked as the gnorc went to grab her. Acting on impulse, she jumped back and darted off to the other side of the room as fast as her paws could carry her. Ripto took notice, conjuring up a fireball and shooting it towards the pink dragoness. She slid across the floor as she ducked the blast. The attack flew over her and hit Gnasty in the chest. As the gnorc rolled back from the impact, Ember knew now was her only chance. She charged towards the door.

"Oh no you don't!" Ripto said. A bright light illuminated his sceptre and a force field blocked the door. Ember let out a yelp as her only exit was blocked. She turned back to see Gnasty charging at her again, and her eyes darted about, searching for anything that might help her get out of this situation.

With the gnorc almost upon her, Ember gulped and charged forward, sliding under the massive gnorc's legs and racing towards the other side of the room. Ripto growled in frustration as the gnorc slammed into the force field while attempting to grab the dragoness. He bounced off it with a dull thud, his eyes spinning.

As Ember skidded to a stop, Ripto sent more fireballs her way. Now panting heavily, Ember ducked behind a pillar to dodge the shots. Gnasty shook off his slip-up, and saw Ripto firing more and more fireballs towards the pillar.

"Ripto! Calm down! We're supposed to capture her in one piece!" the gnorc said.

Ripto barely turned his way. "She'll still be in one piece! Maybe a bit charred, but in one piece regardless!"

The momentary lull in fireballs allowed Ember to dart off towards another pillar. Ripto smirked as an idea came to mind. "Okay then, if you don't want a flame-broiled dragon, let's cool things down a bit!"

His scepter glowed blue as he shot a blast of ice towards the floor where Ember was heading. Having no time to react, she struggled to gain traction as she slid along the floor, tumbling over when she hit a dry patch and slamming into a wall. As Ember struggled to come to, a massive hand gripped both of her wings tightly. She yelped in pain as she was held face-to-face with Gnasty's ugly mug.

"Well, well, aren't you a squirmy one," the gnorc said as Ember struggled in vain to get out of the mighty gnorc's grip. "You could have saved a lot of trouble for yourself had you just handed yourself over, you know."

Ember winced in pain as the gnorc tightened his grip on her wings. Now more desperate than ever to escape, she needed to think of a plan quick. It was then she noticed the curtains hanging on the other side of the room.

 _'Of course! The window! I'm an idiot!'_ she thought in rapid succession as she beat herself up over not realizing such an easy escape route earlier.

However, she was now presented with the new problem of how she would escape the gnorc's grip. As Ripto headed over to them, Ember knew there was only one thing she could do that could give her a chance of escape, though she wouldn't like it. The gnorc was too full of himself to take notice as faint red glow started to build up in the back of her throat.

"Ugh! What is it with baby dragons being more difficult to deal with than adult ones!? Seriously!" Ripto complained as Gnasty turned to face his tiny companion.

"Beats me. Whatever the case, at least we have this annoying pink ball of— _AACK!_ " A wave of fire gushed over his face, causing him to release his grip on the dragoness as he tried to shield his eyes.

Ember coughed a bit as she hit the floor. Dragon Village being a mostly peaceful place, it was rare she ever, if at all, had to use her flames, and as such was quite behind other dragons her age in that department.

 _'Ugh... I hate doing that...'_ she thought to herself, not wasting a second as she darted off towards the window.

Ripto growled at the gnorc's incompetence, and went to grab the dragoness himself. Ember barely ducked in time to send Ripto flying over her and into a pillar. She charged with all of her might to the window. Pushing past the curtains, she jumped out of the window without a second's thought.

"Yes! I'm free!" she proclaimed triumphantly.

Her momentary celebration was cut short by a scream of terror as she noticed the massive drop to the water below. Wings flapping with all their might, the earlier strangling from the gnorc having hindered her ability to glide, Ember turned around and barely managed to grab the window frame with one paw. The claws on her other paw scrapped against the brick wall as the momentum caused her to swing. Slowly pulling herself up, she was met with a mighty hand that grabbed her throat and pulled her up. Once again, she came face-to-face with a very angry gnorc.

Gnasty growled as he tightened his grip. It wasn't enough to start choking Ember, but it did prevent her from using her fire again. As she whimpered in terror, Ripto approached with a scowl on his face.

"Okay, enough is enough!" he said, his scepter glowing deep blue. A faint blue glow started to surround her, and Ember's vision blurred as her body became numb. Though she fought it as best she could, it wasn't before long she fell still.

Gnasty was rather surprised as he turned to the short raptor. "Why didn't you use that sooner!?"

"The spell requires the target to stay still! Besides, I didn't think this stupid dragon would cause us so much trouble!" Ripto defended himself, though the gnorc still seemed annoyed with him. "Regardless, we have her now. Let's get back and see what that guy wanted her for in the first place."

With an annoyed sigh, the gnorc followed, draping the pink dragoness over his shoulder. The spell had rendered her barely conscious. Her vision blurred, and the last thing she saw was the crystal statue of her uncle before everything went dark.


	2. Prologue pt. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trying to keep these author notes short sense I have a bad tendency of rambling in them. All I can really say is the main gimmick to this fic will become apparent at the end of the chapter. I've never tried it before, but it was a concept that really interested me so...
> 
> Again, I would like to thank Riverstyxx for beta-reading this for me.

"Spyro, I like kicking gnorc and rhynoc butt just as much as the next guy, but I can't help but get the feeling that the Professor is messing with us," Hunter said, stopping to rest by a tree to rub his sore feet.

He, Spyro and Sparx had been walking around the Magic Crafters homeworld for what felt like half the day. Despite Shelia, Sgt. Byrd, Bentley and Agent 9 joining in on the search, so far they hadn't found any trace of gnorcs or rhynocs.

"I doubt it. The Professor may make some rather _questionable_ inventions, but his sense of humor is about as funny as a rock," Spyro replied, taking a moment to pause and look back at Hunter before he started to continue on his way. Hunter scratched his head.

"What's up with you, Spyro? I've never seen you so focused on something before," Hunter said as he got back up, rather begrudgingly, to follow the purple dragon. "Usually if you can't deal with something, you give up in rage and come back to it later."

Spyro shot a glare at him. "Hey! I just want to be absolutely sure, is all. Whether or not the investigation lasts all day and keeps me away from the Artisan world is beside the point."

Hunter raised an eyebrow. A smug smirk crossed his face as he started to put two and two together.

"Oh, _I_ get it," he said as he walked in front of Spyro. "You just want an excuse to get away from that pink dragon."

Spyro looked a bit shocked, but his expression quickly turned to that of frustration.

" _Ugh..._ " he groaned, rubbing the side of his head. "It's just… She's _so annoying!_ "

Hunter sat down next to him. "Aw, come on. You should have known that fangirls come with the hero business," he said, patting the dragon on the back.

"I know... I know..." Spyro muttered before he turned to the cheetah. "Admittedly, it was kind of awesome at first to be idolized by someone," he said, a slight smile on his face. "The problem is she won't leave me alone!"

The smile instantly disappeared, and Spyro threw his paws up in frustration. "If she isn't constantly reminding me of how awesome my adventures were, she's flirting with me non-stop! Just yesterday she told me how nice it would be to get engaged some day! _Engaged!_ "

Hunter simply crossed his arms and put his hand on his chin. "I dunno, Spyro. I'm not sure what you dragons look for in a mate, but she _is_ kind of cute."

_"Hunter!"_

"Kidding, kidding!" Hunter raised his hands in front of him to calm down the rather annoyed dragon. "Besides, I know you only have eyes for Elora."

Spyro was taken back by the comment, a slight blush on his face. _"Wh-what!? No!_ _I do not!"_

Hunter started busting up laughing at the purple dragon's flustered state. Before he could continue his teasing, though, a sudden purple flash in front of them ended all light-hearted conversation. A gnorc appeared, holding a hexagonal crystal in its hands. It was just about to set the crystal down but, faster than Agent 9 rushing towards a blaster convention, Spyro charged at it. The gnorc went flying as the gem fell to the ground. Hunter was still trying to process what had happened as Spyro picked up the gem.

"Woah, uh... That was..." Hunter mumbled, trying to make sense of the sudden appearance of the gnorc. Before he could, though, the gem Spyro was holding flashed bright blue and a holographic screen appeared in front of them. Though the area was dimly lit, the two could make out a cloaked figure sitting in a chair.

"Greetings, fools," the figure said, prompting a confused look from both Spyro and Hunter.

"Who are you?" Spyro asked. The figure hardly reacted as muffled shouts could be heard in the background, as though a minor struggle was going on.

"Let's just say I am someone you know all too well," the figure said, a slight tone of disgust in its voice. "I've been waiting for this, purple dragon. The day I will finally have my revenge is at hand."

Hunter gave a raised eyebrow to Spyro. "You know this guy?"

Spyro just shrugged. "I dunno... I guess? I mean, if I had a gem for every ominous cloaked figure that wants revenge on me for whatever reason..."

The figure on-screen was clearly not amused. "Enough! Purple dragon, you are to come to the coordinates I am about to send you _alone._ "

Hunter and Spyro shot each other a look, wondering if this figure was really serious.

"Oh please. My 'obvious trap' sense is tingling," Hunter quipped as he and Spyro started to chuckle.

"Yeah, what do I look like? Like I was born yesterday?" Spyro continued. The figure was barely phased by the mocking.

"Go ahead, laugh it up. However, what you don't know is that I have an ace up my sleeve," it said as the struggling got louder in the background.

"Gah! Stop squirming, you little pest!" a gruff voice yelled. Both Hunter and Spyro recognized the voice as a certain raptor that had terrorized Avalar not so long ago.

" _No! Let me go!_ " another voice yelled. Spyro's eyes widened with shock, but his expression quickly turned to that of frustration and he face-palmed.

"Oh lord… Please don't tell me..." he muttered in annoyance.

The screen quickly panned over to reveal what the purple dragon was dreading. There, being tied to a pole by Ripto, was the pink dragoness that Spyro had hoped to avoid for the day. The dragoness was in a panic as she tried to break free from the ropes, but she quickly took notice of her idol standing on the other side of the screen.

" _Spyro!_ " the dragoness called, almost on the verge of tears in terror. " _Please! Help me!_ "

The screen panned back to the figure sitting in the chair. As Spyro cursed at how such a perfect day had gone to dragon nuggets, the figure sat in the chair smugly.

"As you can see, we have kidnapped your gir—"

" _Don't you dare finish that sentence!_ " Spyro interrupted, the annoyance in his voice extremely evident as he grabbed his forehead. "She is _not_ my girlfriend! She's just some annoying fangirl that showed up one day! You idiots wasted your time for nothing!" He could feel a slight headache coming on as the figure paused.

"... Regardless," said the figure, not willing to admit the mistake it had made. "If you do not come to the coordinates I'm about to send you, alone and in time, the girl will still die."

The figure leaned forward towards the screen. "Tell me, _hero_ , regardless of your feelings towards her, do you _really_ want that on your conscious?"

The gem started to glow a soft white.

"I'm sending you the coordinates of my lair now. Remember; come _alone._ "

Spyro spaced out a bit as the spell sent the location of the lair straight to his brain. Shaking his head as the gem went dull and the hologram dissipated, Spyro let out a long, annoyed sigh.

"... You're not actually going to go through with this, Spyro?" asked Hunter. Spyro finally stopped rubbing his head to look at the cheetah.

"Well, not the going in alone part, at any rate," Spyro muttered as he got up. "Go get the others, Hunter. No matter how much she annoys me, I'm not going to let anyone die on my watch."

Hunter gave a nod before running off to gather the others. Spyro let out an annoyed groan as he looked over to Sparx.

"One thing's for sure, buddy… I'm going to need a _loooooooong_ vacation to Dragon Shores after this is all over."

* * *

" _You imbeciles!_ " the figure snapped the second the screen dissipated, shooting a sharp glare at Ripto and Gnasty, both of whom were trying to keep their pink captive quiet. "How could you morons think Spyro cared about this stupid fangirl!?"

Ripto was quick to speak up.

" _Us!?_ " he said, a scowl on his face as he waved his scepter towards the figure. " _You_ were the one who told us to catch this annoying eyesore!"

The figure let out a low growl, but was quick to regain her composure.

"... Regardless, Spyro will still be here soon enough," she stated. As Ember's struggling finally started to lessen due to fatigue, Gnasty was finally able to weigh in on the situation.

"I know this goes without saying, but you don't really expect Spyro to come alone, do you?" he asked.

"No. It doesn't matter how many of his pathetic friends he brings with him, the outcome will remain the same nonetheless." She brought her staff down in front of her. "If anything, it will allow me to have my revenge on all those insolent fools at once."

Gnasty raised a sceptical eyebrow.

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Gnasty asked, crossing his arms. "Spyro on his own has already beaten all of us once before, and don't go telling our troops this, but they aren't exactly the brightest when it comes to combat... Nor bravery."

The figure merely started to stroke the violate crystal atop her staff.

"Oh, do not worry about that," she said slyly, a devious grin hidden beneath her hood. "Let's just say we're going to have some _outside_ help on this one..."

This prompted confused looks from both Ripto and Gnasty.

"Yes, those fools won't know what hit them..." the figure muttered, a soft but evil laugh escaping her lips, slowly growing as it echoed throughout the halls. Though a bit weirded-out at first, both Ripto and Gnasty slowly but surely started to join in.

Ember watched on with a worried look and sighed to herself.

_'Spyro... Please be careful...'_

* * *

The air grew cold as the group of heroes travelled to Alpine Ridge. Spyro was slightly surprised, as well as a bit dumbfounded, that none of them had managed to find the entrance to the lair earlier. Currently, the group stood in the cave where Spyro had once chased down one of the final egg thieves during his first adventure. Spyro himself was reminded of unpleasant memories of trying to get the treasures on the three platforms near the cave.

Pushing the thought aside, the purple dragon walked up to the wall and placed his paw on it. The wall lit up as a glowing blue circle appeared around Spyro's paw, expanding into several runes. The wall rumbled before pulling back and lowering into the ground.

An ominous wind blew from the newly revealed cave, and Sgt. Byrd narrowed his eyes.

"Careful everyone. We're heading into enemy territory," he said.

Shelia crossed her arms as a shiver went down her spin. "You don't need to tell me twice, mate. I have a bad feeling about this..."

Spyro had to admit, the unwelcoming air made him rather nervous, too. However, not having a choice, he grabbed a stick and lit the top of it on fire to help cut through the darkness of the cave. As he handed it to Hunter, the group reluctantly entered the cave.

The dull light from the torch did relatively little to illuminate the cave. The darkness was almost suffocating. All was eerily quiet and only the group's own footsteps could be heard. What was most unnerving, though, was that the entire time the group couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched.

A cracking sound echoed throughout the cave, and not a second later Agent 9 spun around with a scream and fired several laser shots towards it.

"Calm down! Your reckless disregard could cause a cave in!" Bentley exclaimed. Agent 9 paused for a second, eyes still glued on where the noise had come from.

"You heard that! I know you heard that!" Agent 9 proclaimed. "There's someone there! I can't see them but I _feel_ that they're there!" The focal point on his blaster started to glow. "Well, whoever you are, _get ready to feel Mr. Laser!_ "

He started up his barrage again, much to the chagrin of the rest of the group.

"Cool it! You're going to alert whoever it is that we're— _GAH!_ " Hunter's attempts to get the monkey to stop his assault were interrupted as an arrow whizzed by his head, only missing by a few inches.

Several loud, bellowing screeches shook the cave as a sudden wave of beings came rushing down towards them. The savage, snarling apes were of bulky build, and dressed in layers of tanned leather. Several of them were carrying maces, while others charged in claws-bared. The group was taken aback by the sight, but barely had time to think before a wave of arrows shot their way.

"Cripes! We're extremely outnumbered! Fall back! Fall Back!" Sgt. Byrd yelled. He flew backwards while he and Agent 9 returned fire with their missiles and lasers respectively. Though the blast succeeded in taking out a few smaller apes, several of the ones with a much bulkier build charged in front with metal shields raised. The blast had surprisingly little effect on them.

"Now, I know I'm normally all for action, but I think I'm with James on this one!" Shelia said, barely ducking under an arrow as she turned to the other side of the cave.

Before she or the rest of the group could get too far, a flash of purple light illuminated the cave for a second. The group's path was now blocked by another throng of apes, snarling wildly as they drew their weapons.

"Crud! Doesn't look like we have a choice! We're going to have to fight our way out of this one!" Hunter proclaimed, drawing his bow and pulling back an arrow. Spyro smirked as he took a fighting stance.

"No problem! We've dealt with plenty mooks in the past! This will be a piece of cake!" He charged into the opposing enemies.

Though his charge was legendary for the punch it packed, the apes who he charged at dodged out of the way with ease, and the purple dragon skidded to a stop. Turning around, intending to unleash a wave of flames upon the apes, he was instead met with a mighty punch to the face that sent him tumbling backwards. Though Sparx had managed to soften the blow, and was now glowing deep blue instead of radiant yellow, the impact had hurt a lot more than he had expected.

Spyro groaned as he shook his head. He didn't have much time to collect his thoughts before the apes were on him again. Barely rolling out of the way as one brought down a sword, Spyro quickly charged up a massive burst of flames that washed over the swarm of attackers.

Spyro grinned smugly as flames hit their target…but it was quickly wiped from his face when the apes brushed off the attack. Only their slightly singed fur showed that the flames had done anything at all. Spyro ducked under another punch before he dashed through the group, trying to put some distance between him and his assailants.

"Ugh... These guys are a lot tougher than they look," Spyro said. He spat out more flames that did little to slow down the mob chasing him.

"Doesn't help that they looked pretty tough to begin with!" Hunter added, quickly firing several arrows at some apes charging at him. The apes hardly slowed as the arrows struck their bodies. Hunter ducked a punch and countered with an uppercut. The blow barely slowed his attacker down, and he was hit with a mighty kick to the chest that knocked the wind out of him.

As the apes started to swarm and restrain Hunter, Shelia quickly took notice.

"Hold on!" she called, jumping on top of an ape that had charged at her and springing herself over to where Hunter was. With a mighty kick, she managed to knock several of the apes down before back-flipping and doing the same to an ape that had attempted to sneak up on her. Unfortunately, the apes were quick to regain their balance. They jumped up and charged at her.

Shelia was quick on her feet as she once again jumped on an ape that had charged at her, this time jumping up until her head almost touched the cave ceiling. She came back down at blistering speed, landing with a mighty stomp that knocked several of the apes down again. As she released several quick kicks at the apes swarming her, the sheer numbers started to give way, until an ape swept her from the side and caused her to flinch. Those few seconds provided all the time her attackers needed. She was quickly forced to the ground as several apes piled on top of her.

"Ah! _Hey! Get off me!_ " she yelled, struggling to move her legs. The apes had to use all their might to restrain her. Unfortunately for her, the others were already too preoccupied with their own battles to jump in.

"Take this, you unsophisticated boisterous brutes!" Bentley took a mighty swing with his ice club that knocked out several of the apes attacking him. So far fairing best out of his allies, he punched an ape that had charged at him into a cave wall. Some of his attackers paused as they looked for an opening, and soon grinned savagely as they saw what was slowly creeping up on the yeti. Turning around, Bentley barely had time to block a mighty sword strike.

The brutish ape sneered, roughly a bit taller and bulkier than the yeti. Bentley frowned and swung a punch at the ape's face. The blow caused the ape to flinch and allowed Bentley to push it back. With a quick charge, he brought his ice club down on the ape, and the blow knocked the wind out of it. Quick to recover, though, the ape countered with a sword swipe that Bentley only just managed to block with his club. Several chunks of ice went flying from the clash. The two were caught in a deadlock, exchanging blows back and forth, either blocking or absorbing attacks without much harm.

Finally, a deafening crack rang through the cave as the cold hard steel of the ape's blade cracked Bentley's ice club in half. Bentley staggered back. He grunted as he tossed the now useless remains of his club to the ground and raised his fists. Having learned some boxing techniques from when he'd had to get his little brother's ball back from another yeti, he charged the ape and delivered a mighty blow to its face. It fell back and dropped its sword.

The ape growled in defiance as it raised its own fists, accepting the yeti's challenge. The two combatants exchanged blows, nether one gaining even a slight advantage. It seemed like the battle could have gone on for hours.

Finally, however, the ape had started to get fed up with its opponent. It gave a loud screech and some of the other apes took notice. Before Bentley knew it, he was swarmed by several dozen smaller apes. Though he was quick to toss a few of them off, the sheer numbers, combined with a swift punch from the bigger ape, forced the yeti to the ground. Bentley scowled up at the big ape.

"You pompous, arrogant cheater!" he said. The ape had an arrogant grin on its face.

"There is no such thing as cheating in a war zone!" the ape proclaimed, earning a confused look from the yeti.

"War? What wa—?" Bentley started, but was quickly silenced when an ape struck him on the back of the head with a mace, knocking him out cold.

Sgt. Byrd, meanwhile, was staying out of reach of the apes thanks to his ability to fly, firing missiles at his attackers with great haste. The explosions knocked out a few of the apes, who burst into small crystals not a second later. Some of the more brutish apes managed to block the attacks with their shields, providing support as the archers took shots at the penguin. Though he was quite skilled in aerial combat, a rogue arrow struck one of his wings and sent him flying to the ground. Before he could get up, several of the apes jumped on him and stripped him of his rocket launchers. Sgt. Bird was all too easily overcome.

"Come on! Is that all you creeps got?! I've taken on rhynocs tougher than you guys!" Agent 9 taunted, unaware of his comrades' current predicaments.

The monkey was never one to go down easily, jumping on several apes' heads while firing lasers at others. Though he was fast on his feet, the attacks did nothing more than annoy the apes. As Agent 9 jumped on another ape's head, one grabbed him by the tail and slammed him to the ground, separating him from his blaster in the process. Several apes piled on top of him.

Spyro panted as he rolled out of the way of a punch. Sparx was now dull green due to having absorbed a cheap shot from behind. Spyro growled. His constant flames so far had only managed to knock out one of the apes in the mob.

"What is up with these guys?!" he yelled, jumping out of the way of a blow and spitting more flames at the ape. "It's like they're from a completely different world..."

Rearing back, Spyro charged head first at the ape, but the brute easily dodged and punched Spyro in the side. Sparx grunted in pain as he absorbed the blow and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Spyro felt sweat dripping now that Sparx could no longer absorb most of the blows that the apes were dealing to him. As the apes started to surround him, Spyro shot one last burst of flames in a last-ditch effort. The apes easily dodged. He felt a painful blow to the back of his head, and the last thing Spyro saw was his friends being dragged off by the apes.

* * *

Spyro awoke with a groan, his vision blurry as he took in his surroundings. He appeared to be in the middle of a dark arena, not unlike the one he had fought Crush in during his second adventure. He tried to move, only to find that his legs were magically bound in the air. As he struggled to pull himself free, a low bellowing laugh echoed throughout the arena. A spotlight shone down on a hooded figure in a chair. The figure rested its head on one of its arms.

"Greetings, purple dragon," the figure said as it got out of the chair with a slight grunt of pain. Spyro narrowed his eyes, his struggling dying down.

"Who are you!? Why are you doing this!?" he demanded.

"I believe you should already know the answer to that," the figure said, prompting a confused look from the purple dragon. "After all, you _did_ ruin my life..."

It struggled a bit as it walked down towards the dragon, having to rely on its staff to move down the stairs. Spyro just stared at the figure with a blank expression.

"... Uh, yeah, sorry, but you're going to have to be a bit more specific," the purple dragon said. The comment seemed to annoy the figure, and it stopped a few feet in front of the dragon.

"Really now? I would have expected that throwing someone in _acid_ is something one would not forget easily," the figure snarled, anger seething in its voice. Spyro was still drawing a blank, even as he tried to think back. This appeared to only annoy the figure more, and it let loose a low growl.

"Now, now. If you really are _that_ clueless, allow me to refresh your memory..." The figure grabbed its hood and tossed it back. Spyro was horrified by the sight that soon followed.

In front of him was what appeared to be a blue dinosaur-like creature… Or what had _once_ been a dinosaur-like creature. Multiple third-degree burn scars marred its body in several places. Its scales almost looked like they had been melted off. Its face was no better, part of its mouth melted down over its lips and forcing that part of its mouth shut. More burn marks were plastered all over its face and one of its eyes was completely white, useless in the wake of the horrible punishment that Spyro had delivered. It was a miracle that this creature was even still able to live in this state, let alone stand.

Spyro was in silent shock at the creature's appearance before realization finally hit him. " _You!_ "

A smirk crept over the being's ugly face at the dragon's sudden epiphany.

"You're…you're the Sorceress!" he said, shooting the vile beast a sharp glare.

Had it not been for the fact that it would have caused her immense pain, the Sorceress would have slowly clapped at the dragon's observation. "Good job. I was wondering if you'd ever figure that out on your own."

The comment earned a growl from the purple dragon.

"Bu-but how!? I saw you fall into a pit of acid!" he exclaimed. A pained expression crossed the Sorceress' face at the painful memory.

"Indeed. I had thought it was the end of me as well..." The Sorceress slowly started to walk around the purple dragon. "However, did you ever wonder how I managed to survive our first battle, when you threw me into a pit of lava?"

Spyro tilted his head to follow her around the room as best he could. "Now that you mention it... Not really. I thought you managed to cast a spell that had the effects of an invincibility gate."

"Really, now? Then tell me, why didn't I cast said spell before I fell into the acid?" she asked. A confused expression appeared on Spyro's face.

"Um... Because..." Spyro muttered, unaware that the Sorceress was getting some amusement from his rather loose grasp on the rules of magic. "Because you were on a UFO when I shot you down, and you had no time to cast it?"

It was more of a question than a statement. The Sorceress let out a laugh.

"Please. And here I thought my former apprentice had a terrible grasp on magic," she said, earning an angry glare from Spyro. "No, you stupid dragon. There is no such spell that can replicate the effects of an invincibility gate."

Having made a full circle around the dragon, she was now staring him straight in the face. "Remember the reason I kidnapped the dragon eggs in the first place?"

Spyro shot her a glare of disgust. "How could I forget? Wanting to kill a bunch of baby dragons just so you could tear off their wings to make yourself immortal is sick even by bad guy standards."

The Sorceress was barely fazed by the sharp comment.

"Well, remember how the original staff I had also had a dragon egg as its focal point?" she asked, her voice suddenly taking a darker tone. "Because I sure do."

"You see, dragon, as it turns out, overuse of the egg as the focus of my magic also had the desired effect I was hoping to obtain through the dragon-wing spell, if only temporary." Her voice was slowly getting more and more aggressive as she went on.

"Indeed, as long as I had that staff, I would be unable to die... And the effects would still linger even after the egg had been taken from it." The Sorceress suppressed a growl as she looked away for a second. "Just long enough for me to escape that horrid pit of pain you had dropped me in."

She cast an angry gaze upon Spyro again.

A cocky smirk came over Spyro's face as he listened to the story. "Oh, and you think that's _my_ fault? News flash, I didn't _force_ you to steal the dragon eggs. You're the one who decided to mess with us and use a dragon egg as some sort of freaky magic staff!"

His comments only served to enrage the Sorceress further.

"Besides, you were planning on killing a bunch of baby dragons! As far as I'm concerned, you got what you deserved!" Spyro said. The Sorceress' eyes flared with anger.

" _Silence!_ " she yelled, pointing her staff at the dragon. The quick movement caused her to flinch a bit. "Do you have any idea of what it's like!? To be trapped in a body that can't even perform basic movements without feeling pain!?"

"Maybe not, but why should I care after what you attempted to do!?" Spyro shot back, not buying into the Sorceress' attempt to gain sympathy. Now calm once again, the hag turned around and walked back to her pedestal.

"Because, dragon..." she said, turning her head back to shoot a sharp glare at him. "What _I'm_ about to do to you will be _far_ worse than what you did to me."

With that cold comment, the arena suddenly lit up to reveal a massive incantation circle carved with several runes surrounding him. Gnasty and Ripto stood at opposite ends of it, forming a perfect triangle with the Sorceress.

" _Spyro!_ " a familiar voice rang out. Spyro cringed more at it than at the reality of what was going on around him. Ember was tied up to a pole not far away from where the action was going on, more afraid to see her hero trapped between his three greatest enemies than for her own safety.

"Oh, shut up you annoying pink pest!" Ripto yelled, pointing his scepter towards her. "Your hero isn't going to save _anyone_ this time!"

Gnasty let loose an obnoxious laugh. "Yeah! This time he'll be lucky to get himself out of this in one piece!"

Spyro finally snapped back to his senses and started to struggle in the hope of breaking his magic bonds.

"Quiet, both of you!" the Sorceress snapped, causing the other two to return to the task at hand. "Take your places, now! This spell is incredibly powerful, so we can't afford even the tiniest mistake!"

The other two villains grumbled, but did as she ordered.

Spyro started to feel beads of sweat drip down his head. The more he struggled, the tighter the magic bonds got. He looked up to see the Sorceress starting to chant in an otherworldly language. Gnasty and Ripto started to funnel their powers into each other to balance the magical energy out. Realizing he didn't have much time, Spyro cursed under his breath.

For one of the few times in his life, the purple dragon was experiencing an emotion he rarely ever had to deal with. The feeling of utter helplessness and fear.

* * *

"Let us out of here!" Hunter yelled, shaking the bars of his cell in the vain hope it would actually do something. The apes guarding it barely gave him attention as Hunter growled. He tried to ram into the door of his cell, only to be knocked back onto his butt the second he made contact.

"You might as well give up, mate," Shelia said, sitting against a wall with a troubled expression. "If my kicks can't do anything to it, I doubt you'll be able to break it down."

Hunter didn't pay heed as he rammed the door again, only to be met with the exact same result.

"We have to do something, though!" Hunter exclaimed as he picked himself up. "Spyro's in trouble! Who knows what these guys are doing to him right now!"

He charging the door again and Shelia sighed as she looked around the prison they were in. Sgt. Byrd and Agent 9 were placed in a cell together, their weapons taken from them so they couldn't blast their way out. Meanwhile, Bentley was placed in his own cell with heavy-duty bars lining it, to make extra sure the yeti couldn't bust his way out. The situation looked hopeless, as if there was no possible way for them to escape. Even trying to taunt the guards so they would open the doors to try to shut them up hadn't worked; they merely tuned out the group the second they started.

The air was tense as the seconds passed, and there seemed to be no possible way out of this scenario. Just then, an explosion rocked the area, catching the guards' attention. As smoke filled the air and disoriented a few of the guards, a voice rung out and a blue glow started to shine through.

"Freeze!"

Without further warning, a blue ball of magic shot out and froze several of the apes in blocks of ice. The remaining apes screeched as they charged forward towards the smoke. The unknown attacker quickly noticed and started to charge up a yellow ball in its palm.

"Zakeru!"

A bolt of lightning shot from its hands. The jolt stunned the apes, and the mysterious figure once again charged up a blue glowing ball. As it proclaimed "Freeze!" once again, the remaining apes were all encased in ice. The group in the cells looked on and were shocked to see who it was once the dust died down.

"Bianca!" Hunter announced, surprised to see his girlfriend standing there. She put her left hand, in which was a spell book, on her left hip and scratched the back of her head with the other.

"'Bout time. You have any idea how long it took me to find you all?" she asked, sounding almost annoyed as she went over to the keys on the wall. "Why didn't you tell me you found their hideout?"

She eyed Hunter as she went over to their cell. Hunter chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head with a rather unconvincing smile. "Well, babe… I didn't want you to get hurt and all. Besides, after all we've been through, and the fact that we realized it was an ambush going in, we thought we could easily handle it."

"Clearly," Bianca muttered, noting the cells they were all being held in.

"Hunter, it's nice that you care about me like that and all, but you need to realize I can hold my own just as well as you can," she continued, starting to unlock the cells. "I _am_ a mage, after all."

Hunter couldn't help but smirk. "Is _that_ why you accidentally turned Spyro green once when you were trying out that spell?"

Bianca frowned a little. "Sh-shut up! Even the most powerful of mages are entitled to a few mess-ups every now and then."

Hunter laughed a bit as he hugged her, and Bianca smiled slightly despite herself.

"By the way, how did you find this place?" Hunter asked as Bianca went over to unlock Agent 9 and Sgt. Byrd.

"It was simple, really. When you opened the door to this place, it sent out a slight magical pulse that only those well-trained in magic could sense." She opened the cell and quickly jumped out of the way as Agent 9 came barrelling out, ranting about how he was going to kick some ape butt once he got his blaster back. Tuning him out, Bianca continued her explanation. "After I sensed it, it was merely a task of following it back to its source."

"Alright then," Hunter said, looking back at the apes frozen in blocks of ice. "Still can't believe how tough these guys are, though. It's like they're from a completely different world..."

Bianca opened Bentley's cage, and the yeti politely thanked her for her assistance.

"Well..." Bianca muttered as she turned back to Hunter, "that's because they sort of _are_ from another world."

"What!?" Shelia exclaimed. Sgt. Byrd walked closer to the rabbit.

"I believe some explanation is in order," he said, but Bianca shook her head.

"No time! If what I think is going on is about to happen, we need to find Spyro quick!" Bianca turned back towards the exit of the jail and motioned for the others to follow. Though still confused, the group quickly fell in behind her.

* * *

A magical vortex swirled around the room as Spyro became increasingly more desperate. No matter how much he struggled, the magic bonds keeping him in place wouldn't budge an inch. He looked up towards the Sorceress, who was busy channelling her magic into the vortex above him.

"W-what's going on, anyway!? What do you plan on doing to me!?" Spyro demanded. His attempts to hide the fear in his voice didn't escape the Sorceress. With a chuckle of sadism, relishing the fear of the dragon who had caused her so much pain, she looked down towards him.

"Hmm... I suppose I should humor you a bit before you spend eternity experiencing the agony you put me through." An evil grin appeared on her face, but she was still managing to keep the magic vortex stable. "Tell me Spyro, you do know about realms, right?"

Spyro managed to put on mocking expression despite the current situation.

"Well, _duh!_ I've been to most of the other realms!" Spyro replied, momentarily forgetting about the danger he was in due to what appeared to be an obvious question. The Sorceress hardly paid attention to him as she continued.

"Well, dragon, did you know there are worlds beyond the realms we know?" she asked, a smirk appearing on her face. "Worlds where alternate versions of us exist... Some rather similar to our world, others vastly different."

Spyro raised a curious eyebrow.

"S-so?" he asked, still trying to hide the worry in his voice. "What does that have to do with anything?"

A sadistic grin found its way into the Sorceress' face. "Well, recently I've come across a way to teleport between these worlds, or bring in others from different worlds."

Slowly, Spyro started to put two and two together.

"The Professor's long-range teleportation technology..." he said under his breath. His eyes widened when it finally hit him. "W-wait! You mean those apes—?"

"Indeed," the Sorceress cut him off, the smug grin still on her face. "Those apes come from a world where they had waged war on dragons for years, only to have their leader betray them once victory was at hand, casting them into the darkness for their power lust."

Spyro finally realized why fire breath barely did anything against them. _'No wonder they were so tough...'_

"You'd be surprised at how grateful they were when I saved them from eternal damnation, and how eager they were when I mentioned they'd have to take care of purple dragon in exchange," she continued, and Spyro lowered his head with a defiant growl.

"So, what now? You plan on using them to take over the world? What exactly does that have to do with me!?" Spyro demanded.

"Let me put it this way, dragon. Do you know what can happen if a teleportation portal is performed incorrectly?" she asked. Spyro just kept a sharp glare on her. "Well, for starters, without a defined exit point, the end result is that a world is picked at random as the exit point for each being involved in the teleportation."

"Now, imagine what would happen if I combine that with a soul extraction spell..."

" _Soul extraction!?_ " Ripto exclaimed, surprised by the evil Sorceress' plan. "Are you crazy!? Even the most wicked of mages find that spell an abomination to magic!"

His concentration broke and the vortex started to wobble a bit.

" _Silence!"_ the Sorceress commanded, causing Ripto to be taken aback. "You said you wanted this purple annoyance out of your way, so here it is! Now, keep focusing on the portal!"

Ripto frowned as he returned to channelling energy into the vortex. Spyro gulped a bit at Ripto's outburst. If this soul extraction spell was considered evil by even _his_ standards...

"As I was saying before I was interrupted..." the Sorceress continued, focusing more energy into the vortex to help stabilize it again. "When a being is trapped in a rebounding portal, their physical form will stay intact and be teleported to wherever the portal decides to send them."

"However, when a being's soul is trapped in a rebounding portal, with no physical form to keep it stabilized, the rebound will tear it apart, each part conscious as the fragments are scattered across the dimensions!" she exclaimed.

Spyro gasped as the full reality of what was going on finally hit him. "W-wait! You mean—?!"

"Yes... I plan on making you spend an eternity scattered throughout the dimensions, with no physical form and no hope of ever returning to normal!" the Sorceress exclaimed triumphantly. Realizing just how desperate his situation was, Spyro struggled even harder to free himself.

"Now you will know what it's like to be trapped in a body that can barely do anything! Now you will know the pain you inflicted on me!" she ranted. Gnasty looked at the Sorceress with a rather surprised look.

"Yikes... That's evil even for _me_..." he muttered, but quickly looked away when the Sorceress shot him a glare. Ember was in shock upon hearing this monster's master plan, and the fact that right now Spyro was powerless to stop it.

_'This isn't good!'_ she thought in panic, trying to struggle out of the rope she was tied up in. _'Spyro's in serious trouble, and none of his friends are anywhere near here to help him...'_

The reality of what was going on finally hit her. _'I have to do something,_ ** _anything_** _, to help him!'_

Struggling with all her might, she charged up some flames in the back of her throat and shot them at the rope, only to let out a groan when she saw that her bonds were fireproof. As she coughed from the flames, she let out a depressed sigh.

_'This is hopeless! I'm no hero. I'm just some girl who got in way over her head!'_ she thought to herself as she looked up at the ceiling. _'Uncle Tomas... Where are you...?'_

At this point, all she could do was hope for a miracle to happen.

She looked back at the scene going on and saw her hero desperately struggling to break his bonds. The Sorceress began to chant. Spyro's body was slowly engulfed in transparent purple flame. Ember shook her head and gritted her teeth.

_'No! I can't give up! There has to be someway out of this!'_ She started struggling once more.

Then, as if an answer to her earlier prayer, something unusual happened.

Through the bright gleam from the Sorceress' staff, a slight purple tint started to shine from it as well. A purple glow surrounded the rope that had Ember tied to a pole. The knot at her back started to loosen and the rope's grip around her started to break. Then, with one mighty jolt, the rope came undone and Ember fell on the floor. A bit dazed from the sudden fall, she looked around at the ropes that had once held her tight. Though a bit surprised that she had actually managed to escape, she quickly snapped back to reality when she heard Spyro scream in agony.

Not wasting a second, she charged towards the vortex. Ember wasn't exactly sure what she _could_ do to help Spyro, but she needed to try something. Noticing that Ripto was the closest spell-caster and had yet to notice her, she could see only one option. As she got closer, the Sorceress looked down to see her closing in. An expression of horror crossed her face.

" _No! You imbecile! Do_ —!" But it was already too late.

The Sorceress' warning fell on deaf ears as Ember slammed into Ripto, the impact sending them both tumbling into Gnasty on the other side of the room. The concentration broken, the vortex above started to spin wildly out of control, much to the Sorceress' horror. As Ember slowly started to come to from the impact, she noticed the Sorceress shooting her a glare.

_"YOU_ _STUPID,_ ** _MORONIC_** _GIRL!"_ she yelled at the top of her lungs, pointing her staff towards her. " _HAVE YOU ANY_ ** _IDEA_** _OF WHAT YOU'VE JUST DONE!?_ "

The vortex was spinning wildly as the runes around Spyro took on a crimson hue. With the Sorceress' concentration shot, the bonds keeping Spyro in place were finally broken, but the purple flames still engulfed him.

The Sorceress noticed the purple dragon was freed, and the expression of rage on her face only thickened as her staff flared with a bright violet hue. _"NO! EVEN IF I GET CAUGHT IN THIS, I WILL_ ** _NOT_** _LET YOU WIN!"_

She teleporting down in front of Spyro and grabbed him before he could do anything. Still in pain from the spell being cast on him, Spyro could do nothing as the Sorceress resumed her chanting at a much quicker pace.

As Ember squeezed out of the pile-up, she noticed the vile witch holding Spyro by the neck. "Hey! Leave him alone!"

She charged forward and jumped on the Sorceress. The witch was already far pushed beyond her breaking point.

" _GAH! GET OFF ME OR I'LL MAKE YOU FACE AN EVEN_ ** _WORSE_** _FATE!"_ she yelled in an almost demonic fashion, struggling to get the pink dragoness off her.

As all this went on, the doors to the room opened and Bianca and the others finally came charging in. Bianca let out a horrified gasp as she saw the magical vortex starting to go critical, and quickly turned back to the others who were looking on in awe.

"Everyone! Get behind me! _NOW!_ " she exclaimed before turning around and pulling out her spell book.

_"Shield!"_

A protective magical sphere surrounded the group. It was not a moment too soon as the vortex above started to glow brightly. As Gnasty and Ripto came too, they looked on in horror. The Sorceress was still focused on finishing the spell and trying to get the dragoness off her. She didn't even care as the room exploded in a flash of magic.

* * *

Ember opened her eyes. The flash of magic had been too bright and had temporarily blinded her. She had no idea what had happened, but from what she could tell, she doubted it was over yet. Floating through a deep purple void, she could hear the screams of Gnasty and Ripto, and barely caught a glimpse as they were sent flying through the void. She then heard another scream, and looked up. The Sorceress was holding onto Spyro with all her strength as the purple dragon screamed in agony. She had a sadistic grin on her face.

"Now, you fool! Face the torment you put me through!" she yelled, no longer able to hold on as she too flew through the void.

Spyro continued to scream as the purple flames engulfing him grew brighter and brighter. Then, as the purple dragon let out one of the most unearthly screams known to dragon kind, his physical form collapsed into the flames. Purple embers scattered in all directions as the flame grew smaller.

" _SPYRO!_ " Ember screamed in terror. The flame went out as the last ember vanished into the void.

Though still traumatized to have seen her hero disappear before her eyes, Ember didn't have much time to mourn before she heard a low rumbling noise. Looking behind her, she noticed a massive wave of magical energy heading her way. She braced herself as best she could, and everything went dark as the wave washed over her.

* * *

...

...

"Uggggh..."

Ember shook her head as she awoke. She stumbled a bit on the soft hay bundle she had fallen onto, her vision blurry as she took in her surroundings.

"Wha...?" she muttered, noticing the rather primitive tent she was in. The decor looked like something out of the medieval ages, with crudely thrown-together wooden tables, chairs, and desks. Noticing a mirror, Ember was startled by the image looking back at her. Standing there was a pink dragoness, but much to her shock she appeared to be much older than she should have been.

As she walked over to it, the reflection drew closer. Ember timidly tapped on the mirror and jumped back a bit when the reflection did the same.

_'Wha-what the!?'_ she thought to herself as she looked at her own body to confirm that the dragoness in the mirror was indeed her. _'H-how long was I out!?'_

Her train of thought was quickly interrupted when a familiar voice called out to her.

"Ember! Time to wake up! Spyro and Cynder aren't going to wait all day for you!"

* * *

[ **_Next time: The Legend of Spyro: A New Dawn_ ** ](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6835233/1/The_Legend_Of_Spyro_A_New_Dawn)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep! This is going to be a 'Meta-Fiction' fic! As said, I've seen other people try this for different fandoms, and the concept really interested me, so I wanted to give it a go for myself.
> 
> As to how it'll work, I've already got a few fics planned out that I plan on Ember visiting. I'm willing to take suggestions of fics for her to visit (Though, do NOT suggest your own fics!) as it'll also give me a chance to brush up on some Spyro fiction as well. Any fic is fine, even if Ember didn't appear in it originally, though I'm mostly going to be sticking T rated and below fics.
> 
> Also included a small reference to an old anime I use to watch in this chapter. Congrats to anyone who catches it.
> 
> But what happened to Spyro though? And how will Ember handle being in a vastly different world from her own? Find out next time!


	3. A New Dawn pt. 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'The Legend of Spryo: A New Dawn' was written by the fanfiction user Kendell. If you haven't already checked it out, I highly suggest that you do. It's really well done and fun to read. Though, it shouldn't be necessary to understand what's going on in the chapter.
> 
> Chapter beta-read by: Riverstyxx.

_'Mom!?'_ Ember thought, her eyes wide open in surprise. ' _What's she doing here? The Artisan realm is a ways off from Dragon village... Was I really out for_ ** _that_** _long?'_ Ember shook her head as she let out a sigh.

She grabbed her head, still pounding from whatever had happened to her. Nothing was making sense. How had she gotten so old all of a sudden? What was this place? Why was her mother there? Trying to think back to what had happened, her train of thought was once again derailed as her mother called out to her.

"Ember...? Are you alright?"

"Uh, y-yeah! I'm fine, mom! I'll be there in a minute!" she called back before she took a moment to sit down and gather her thoughts. Her head was scrambled from the events that had happened the previous night. Whatever they had been, anyway. Her memories were blurred, like something had taken an eraser to the last hour or so before she'd fallen asleep. All she could remember was that something horrible had happened, something that had terrified her to the core.

Ember started to rub her temples, trying to concentrate on remembering what had happened...

_'YOU STUPID, MORONIC GIRL! HAVE YOU ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE DONE!?'_

_'NO! EVEN IF I GET CAUGHT UP IN THIS, I WILL NOT LET YOU WIN!'_

_'Now, you fool! Face the torment you put me through!'_

_"_ ** _SPYRO!_** _"_ Ember shouted as those horrible memories came flooding back. The Sorceress casting some sort of spell; Spyro bursting into flames; that wave of magical energy washing over her. The dragoness jumped up in shock as her eyes shot open, tears streaming down her face as she immediately thought the worst.

"Oh my god! Spyro's _dead!_ _He's dead!_ " She panicked, body jerking around as she didn't know what to do. Her uproar didn't go unnoticed. Rapid footsteps quickly headed towards her tent.

" _Ember!_ " An older, feminine-looking dragon burst through the curtains with a worried look on her face. "Are you alright!? I heard you scre—"

She was quickly interrupted when Ember ran up and grabbed her in a hug, softly sobbing into her underbelly. The older dragon was quick to comfort the younger dragon as she wrapped her wings around her. "There, there Emby... It's okay..."

"No it's not! Spyro's _dead!_ " Ember exclaimed. Confusion filtered through the comforting expression upon the older dragon's face.

"But, sweetie... Spyro's just fine. He's at the dragon temple right now," Ember's mother said.

Ember quickly looked up to her mother. "H-he is!? B-but, I saw him burst into flames!"

Her mother started to gently stroke her. "Now, now... It was just a bad dream. I assure you, Spyro is just fine."

Ember looked slightly away from her. "B-but... It seemed so real..."

Her mother looked down at her with concern. "Emby... Are you sure you want to go with Spyro and Cynder on this quest? I think all the stress might be getting to you..."

 _'...Quest? What quest? And who's Cynder?'_ Ember wondered.

Nothing was making sense. She was sure what had happened to her hadn't been a dream. Spyro's scream of agony as he burst into flames was far too haunting to be a dream, yet her mother was telling her that Spyro was perfectly fine. On top of that, _how_ did her mother get there? Where were her uncle and the others? And on top of all that, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was forgetting something really important...

So many questions buzzed around in the pink dragoness's head, but she shook them away. Right now, she just wanted to see that Spyro was alright with her own eyes, and the only way she could likely do that was if she played along.

"Uh, y-yes, mom. I still want to go with them," Ember said half-heartedly as she backed out of her mother's grip a bit.

Her mother raised a rather unconvinced eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Ember said as her mother finally let her go from her embrace.

"...Alright. At least let me escort you to the dragon temple, though. You still seem a little out of it," she noted as Ember quickly wiped any remaining tears off her face.

"Okay..."

Maybe it was for the best. Although she had spent sometime in the Artisan realm, with all that had happened, Ember doubted she could properly find her way around the temple. Taking a deep breath to compose herself, she just caught sight of her mother leaving the tent. Normally, she wouldn't have found this odd. However, the fact that she was walking on all fours despite being fully grown quickly earned a raised eyebrow.

Brushing it off rather easily, due to everything else odd that was going on, Ember quickly followed her mother out of the tent.

And that was when things only got _weirder_.

"...!?"

Ember paused as she looked at her surroundings in shock. The green rolling landscape went on for as far as the eye could see. Several other tents surrounded the one she had just come out of, and numerous cheetahs went about their daily business. Some were pulling wooden wagons, while others were busy crafting tools. Notably, unlike Hunter, who kept his fur rather well-trimmed, most of the cheetah's fur was ragged.

Diverting her attention from the cheetahs, she took notice of the lack of signature Artisan structures. Not even a simple hedge maze was anywhere in sight and, most alarmingly, there were no portals to the other realms either. Ember's head darted back and forth as she observed all the new sights that hadn't been there before, unaware that her mother had stopped not long after she had and was eyeing her worriedly.

"Um... Ember?"

"Huh? Oh! Coming!" the pink dragoness said, her mother's voice snapping her back to reality.

Giving a rather lousy fake reassuring smile, her mother slowly started leading her to the temple again. As Ember stayed close by her to avoid any more suspicion, her mind quickly turned to processing the most obvious thought out of everything.

_'Wherever I am, it's definitely not the Artisan realm...'_

* * *

In a vast and empty void, several platforms resembling the ruined remains of a temple were scattered about. It was almost eerily quiet, as not a single soul could be seen anywhere.

"Ugh..."

Laying on a platform near a swirling pool of water, a pink dragoness was in a daze as she slowly picked herself up. Observing her surroundings, she felt a slight twinge of fear come over her, but quickly pushed it aside.

"Where... Where am I?"

_"Ember, are you okay? Normally you're the one waiting for me to catch up..."_

_"Uh... Yes, mom! I'm...I'm fine!"_

The dragoness raised an eyebrow at the voices. She knew them all too well, but what surprised her most was the second voice. Though it sounded like it was almost out of breath, it was all too clear who it belonged to.

_'That... That was my voice! What's going on here!?'_

The voices sounding like they were coming from the pool next to her, and she didn't waste a second before dashing over to it. As she looked down at it, a vision slowly started to appear. As things started to clear, images of a pink dragoness struggling to keep up with an older dragon came into view.

_"Ember... I know I've already asked this several times already, but are you sure you want to go on this journey with Spyro and Cynder?"_

_"Y-Yes, mom! Again, I'm...absolutely sure!"_

The dragoness looked on with both shock and confusion.

_'It's me and mother, but...how can that be? I'm right here! Wherever 'here' is, anyways. Is this pool showing me visions of my past? No, that can't be right. Mom mentioned about me going on the journey with...'_

Her eyes shot open as she jumped with shock, realization hitting her like a ton of bricks.

" _Oh no! The journey!_ " she exclaimed in a panic. "How am I supposed to help Spyro if I'm stuck here!?"

Her head darted around as she tried to think of anything to get her out of this situation, and she quickly turned back to the pool. "Mom! Listen! That isn't me! I'm trapped here! Help!"

No response.

" _MOM!_ "

...

The dragoness sighed in defeat as she sat down next to the pool. _'Great, Ember. Just great...'_ She shook her head. _'Your one chance of getting to go on a journey with your hero, and you go and ruin it by getting your body hijacked...'_

She let out a long, depressed sigh. Several seconds passed as the dragoness hardly moved an inch, her head hung low in defeat.

 _'...No! Come on, you're more resourceful than this!'_ she thought to herself, her head springing back up with a more determined look on her face. _'There has to be some way out of this freaky place, and somehow get your body back!'_

With new determination, the pink dragoness stood up and spread her wings before flying off into the void.

* * *

By the time the two finally got to the dragon temple, Ember was panting heavily. Despite the dragon temple being a relatively close distance from where they'd started, Ember felt like she had been walking for hours. Her feet were _killing_ her at this point, and she was just grateful that her mom didn't press the subject about her sudden lack of stamina. That, apparently, she supposedly had in the first place. With one big sigh of relief, she finally got a good look at the temple.

Ember stood wide-eyed at the breathtaking sight. The temple stood miles high as regal architecture blended in and flowed exquisitely. Several statues of rather burly dragons were set up outside the entrance; most of them she had never seen before. As they made their way in, though, and more statues lined the hallways, one in particular caught her eye. Set up in the hallway and given extra attention to detail was a statue of her hero, Spyro the Dragon.

With out really thinking, she quickly made her way in front of the statue, staring at it in awe. Despite the artist taking some creative libraries, most notably the fact that he looked burlier and older than she remembered—though, that wasn't to say she was complaining—there was no mistaking it.

"Impressive, isn't it?" her mother said, slightly shocking the pink dragoness out of her trance. "After everything he went through, it was the least the temple could do."

Ember nodded as she looked at the statue with a smile on her face. She had been suggesting to the Artisans that they should make some statues to honor Spyro during her trip to their realm. Saving dragon kind from Gnasty Gnorc, stopping Ripto from taking over Avalar, saving the dragon eggs from the Sorceress...

It wasn't long before her mind returned to the sight of Spyro bursting into flames, his scream of agony still causing her to shudder just thinking about it. She shook her head as she tried to clear her mind of that horrid memory, a slight tear coming to her eye.

_'Spyro...'_

It was then that Ember started to hear voices echoing down the hall. It sounded like a large group of dragons were discussing something, which piqued the pink dragoness' interest. Out of curiosity and not really giving it much thought, she quickly followed the voices down the hall. Each step she took caused the words to become clearer.

"The guardians helped me out a bit last night to help me settle down. I'm still worried about the eggs and I'm still upset, but if I get depressed it's not going to help anyone."

The voice she heard had a strong tone yet was still clearly feminine. It carried hints of both resolve and slight worry. Ember raised an eyebrow.

 _'Worried about the eggs...? Huh? Is the Sorceress up to her old tricks again?'_ she thought, a slight twinge of anger making its way onto her face. _'Ooooh... As if killing Spyro wasn't enough, that old hag is trying to harm defenceless baby dragons again! Uggh...! She better_ ** _pray_** _she doesn't run into me again! If I see her, I'll—"_

"That's good. Deadlock probably stole our egg just to get under our scales and hurt us. If we let it break us, she's won."

Though the idea of harming baby dragons was enough to send Ember's usually happy and carefree nature out the window—the fact that she often helped out at the dragon nursery in her village from time to time likely being a key reason—her internal ranting quickly screeched to a halt at the sound of the new voice.

_'Th-that voice! Could it be!? But, it can't!'_

Ember picked up the pace until she was sprinting down the hall as fast as her feet could carry her, her earlier fatigue seemingly disappearing as several emotions started to well up inside her. The voice was noticeably more mature than she remembered, but there was no mistaking it.

"Yeah... Though that doesn't mean I'm not going to shred anyone who gets between me and our baby. It just means I'm going to be in better spirits."

"Same here. Save our rage for the battlefield."

By this time, Ember had skidded to a stop as she panted heavily in front of the door. Her heart skipped a beat at what she saw. There, nuzzling a nearby dragoness, was the dragon she never thought she would ever get to see again. Had it been at any other time, she likely would have been annoyed by the sight of her hero with another dragoness, but right then she barely even noticed her presence.

"Spyro..."

It was at this point that the group finally took notice of Ember's presence, several of them giving her a weird look as she panted heavily and appeared to be on the verge of tears. In an attempt to quell the awkwardness, especially since he was feeling it the most due to being Ember's focus, the purple dragon finally spoke up.

"Oh, uh... Hey, Em- _BER!_ " Spyro was quickly interrupted when the pink dragoness charged forward and grabbed him mid-sentence, the momentum causing them to tumble onto the floor.

"You're alive...You're alive... _Thank god you're alive..._ "

To say the awkwardness in the room had sky-rocketed would be an understatement. Spyro gulped nervously as he raised an eyebrow at the sobbing dragoness currently latched around his neck. "Uh... Wh-why wouldn't I be alive?"

" _AHEM!_ "

Though she was still relieved to see her hero was alright, the sudden voice that broke the silence caused Ember to snap back to reality. Finally looking around the room, she saw several dragons giving her a weird look and quickly got off the purple dragon. Drying her tears a little, she noticed a black dragoness roughly about her age— _whatever_ her age was now—giving her a particularly sharp glare. Despite having a rather slender frame, something about her eyes frightened Ember greatly. Despite the fact that the black dragoness was trying to hold her emotions back, those eyes held the look of someone who had been through many a battle.

AKA: someone who could easily kick Ember's ass if she rubbed them wrong way.

"Geez, and here I thought Pinky was upfront _before_."

The awkward silence was once again broken as a golden ball of light flew into Ember's view. It didn't take long for Ember to figure out who it was. "Sparx! It's good to...see..."

Ember was at first joyous to see Spyro's companion was alive and well too, but was quickly caught off guard once she got a good look at the dragonfly. The most obvious thing she noticed was how humanoid he was in comparison to how she remembered. It was only after she fully registered this that it finally hit her: unlike the usual buzz noises Sparx would often 'talk' in, he was now also speaking perfect English.

" _Whoa!_ What happened to you, Sparx? You look...different."

"Yeah, well, I _have_ been working out a bit, after all."

"I don't think running away in terror counts as 'working out'."

Though the dragonfly was initially a bit flattered by Ember's statement, his pride was quickly dashed by the black dragoness' statement. A bit at ease with the black dragoness chuckling at Sparx's expense, Ember looked back at the purple dragon under her. Now calmer due to knowing Spyro was okay, it was then she finally got a good look at him. Just like her, Spyro appeared to be visibly older than when the Sorceress, Gnasty Gnorc, and Ripto pulled their trap on him. His body also seemed to be much more toned, noticeably musclier compared to how she remembered. Though, she definitely wasn't complaining.

"Um... Ember...?" Though she was still a bit lost in thought, Ember was knocked back to her senses when the purple dragon spoke up.

"Yes, Spyro?"

"...Do you think you can get off me now?"

"Huh...? _OH!_ "

Finally realizing that she was still on top of Spyro, she quickly scrambled off him with a slight blush on her face. Grateful that her scale coloring was able to hide it, Ember noticed that the three elder dragons were staring at her with confused looks on their faces. Not liking the feeling of suddenly being put on the spot by dragons she had never seen before, she gulped a little as the mighty green dragon stepped forward.

"Ember... Are you okay?"

The nervous feeling Ember was experiencing sky-rocketed when the dragon said her name. The concern in his voice made it sound like this dragon already knew who she was, yet she couldn't remember ever meeting him before. She felt beads of sweat starting to form on her head as the dragon waited for an answer, his rather intimidating appearance not helping.

"Uh... Y-yeah! I'm fine!"

The elder dragon raised an eyebrow at her hesitation. He was about to press the subject further, but the sound of a door opening caught the rest of the group's attention. Ember turned back to see her mother standing in the doorway. She had never been so relieved to see her before in her life.

"Excuse me, if it's not too much trouble, I'd like to speak to the guardians," she said, getting a confused look from the elder dragons.

The mighty green dragon turned back to Ember, who was doing her best to keep a calm expression on her face despite her confusion. Though he was still curious of the pink dragoness's odd behavior, eventually he and the other adult dragons left the room. Ember sighed with relief.

"So..." she heard Sparx say before turning around to see him and the two other dragons staring at her. "What up, Pinky? You seem more out of it than usual today."

Spyro gave him a sharp glare. " _Sparx!_ "

"What?! You have to admit, this is a bit strange even for her."

While Spyro was still glaring at Sparx, who was putting his hands in front of him defensively, Ember noticed the black dragoness stepping forward towards her.

"Ember, I know you've already been asked this several times now, but... Are you sure you're okay?"

Ember tried to put on her best smile, but deep down she still couldn't hide the twinge of fear and doubt. Despite the concerned look on her face, something about this dragoness still intimidated her greatly. Who was she, anyway? She seemed to be friends with Spyro, yet she had never heard Spyro talk of her before...

"Yes... I'm fine." Despite her best efforts to sound convincing, the slight look of confusion on the black dragoness' face told her that she could see Ember was hiding something.

"Ember, just before, you charged into the room saying you were thankful Spyro was alive. Exactly what was that about?"

Ember hesitated. She had no idea who this dragoness was, and yet the concern in her voice made it sound like she had known her for a while now. She thought about what the dragoness had asked, wondering at this point if she _should_ tell...whoever this was in front of her. She was sure what she saw was real, about the Sorceress and the others causing Spyro to burst into flames.

Yet there Spyro was, right in front of her, no worse for wear. Ember let out a soft yet irritated sigh, hoping that the group in front of her wouldn't hear. _Nothing_ was making sense anymore.

Noticing the dragons and dragonfly were still looking at her for an answer, she closed her eyes and slightly shook her head. If nothing was making sense, then maybe her story would seem _somewhat_ sane by comparison.

"Well... My mother said it was just a nightmare, but it felt so real, so... I'm not sure." That was a semi-lie. She _knew_ what had happened was real, but hoped by saying that it was a possible nightmare it would make her seem less crazy.

"Last night, I had a dream that the three biggest villains you ever faced teamed up to try to defeat you once and for all," she started, catching a slight glimpse of worry and hurt on the black dragoness' face when she mentioned the 'three biggest villains.' _'Odd...'_

Deciding it best to continue her story, she ignored it.

"Two of them came to the temple to kidnap me to use me as bait to lure you into a trap. I tried to escape, but couldn't. I ended up spending the next hour or so tied up, until some apes dragged you into the middle of the arena while you were unconscious." Ember noticed Spyro and the dragoness tense up when she mentioned the apes, both of them shooting each other a serious glare.

"After that, you were chained down with magic so you couldn't escape. Lights flickered on to reveal a figure in a robe, who then revealed herself to be the Sorceress."

"...The _Sorceress_? Who's the Sorceress?"

Though at this point she should have probably expected it, this time it was Ember's turned to be confused—well, even _more_ confused. How could Spyro not know about what was quite possibly the most evil villain he had ever had to face?

"...You know, the Sorceress." Ember felt uncomfortable as the two dragons in front of her gave each other odd looks. "...She kidnapped all the dragon eggs on the Year of the Dragon."

Not a second after saying that line, Ember jumped a bit as the black dragoness shot her a sharp glare.

" _Ember, that isn't_ _funny!_ " she said, letting out a low growl. Ember gulped a bit, wondering what she did to unintentionally hit one of the dragoness' buttons.

"Cynder, calm down."

 _'Cynder... So_ ** _that's_** _the dragoness I've heard about.'_ Despite her current fear of the dragoness growling at her, Ember made a mental note to remember that name. The last thing she needed was to get her even _more_ angry by forgetting it. Luckily, Spyro's words did manage to calm down Cynder.

The purple dragon then turned back to Ember, giving her a curious look. "Ember… Don't you mean Deadlock?"

"Dead...Lock...? Who's Deadlock?"

Spyro raised an eyebrow at how Ember didn't seem to recognize the name. They had only learned of the three-headed dragon a few days ago, when she had led the raid on the temple. She couldn't have forgotten about it in that time. Noticing that Cynder seemed rather annoyed by Ember's lack of recognition, Spyro was quick to speak up again.

"Eh, never mind... Please continue."

Despite the multitude of questions he wanted to ask at this point, for now Spyro thought it best for Ember to at least finish her story first. If only to stall for time while he tried to figure out a way to rationalize all the stuff he was hearing. Though Cynder still seemed annoyed, Spyro placed his paw on top of hers—partly to calm her down and partly for Ember's own safety.

Had it not been for how much Cynder terrified her, it would have been Ember's turned to be annoyed as she saw her hero comforting another dragoness. However, seeing how she was _already_ on the dragoness' bad side at the moment, she was willing to make an exception.

"Anyways, after that... Things start to get a bit hazy," Ember said, closing her eyes as she tried her best to remember. "I can't really say anything for certain... But the last few things I remember was floating in a purple void as you burst into flames, purple embers scattering all over the place, and then...I was hit with this massive wave of magic. And I woke up."

Spyro put a claw to his chin as he listened to Ember's explanation. He looked at Cynder, who gave him concerned look, before looking at Sparx...who had fallen asleep on a nearby statue. A tiny bit annoyed at his brother's insensitivity, he tapped the ground, a soft green glow around his claw. A slight wave trembled through the floor and the rocked the statue a bit, causing the dragonfly to fall off it and land on the ground.

Landing with an 'oof', the dragonfly quickly shot up. "Huh? What? Who? Where? When?"

Spyro chuckled a bit as his adopted brother looked around the room in confusion, but quickly looked back at Ember, who seemed astonished at what the purple dragon had just done.

"Anyway, Ember... That's quite the nightmare. It's possible that Deadlock was messing with your dreams just like she did for me and Cynder, trying to prey upon our fears again," Spyro said as he placed a claw to his chin.

"Still... It's odd that she would create someone new in the dream instead of appearing in it herself like she did for Cynder and I."

"Bu-but... It felt so real, an—"

"Ember, you said there were two other 'big villains' in your dream. Who were they?" Cynder asked, now completely composed again.

Ember cringed a bit. If they didn't believe her about the Sorceress... "Gnasty Gnorc and Ripto."

The look of complete confusion they were giving her was all she needed to know that they certainly weren't going to believe her now. Sparx flew up close to Ember, rubbing his chin as he looked her straight in the eyes, before flying back over to Spyro and Cynder.

"Maybe Deadlock hit her harder than you guys thought? I mean, c'mon! _Gnasty Gnorc? Ripto?_ Those names sound like something out of a children's storybook!"

Spyro gave Sparx a stern glare at his blunt statement, but admitted that the chances of Ember's story actually being real were unlikely. From the look on Cynder's face, he could tell she was thinking the same thing.

"It has to be Deadlock trying to mess with us again. There's no other reasonable explanation," Spyro summed up, making sure to keep his voice low enough that Ember wouldn't be able to hear them discuss this odd situation—much to her annoyance. "There's still a few things that don't match up, though... Why would she create such weird characters instead of appearing in Ember's dream herself?"

"She's probably trying to stall for time. We've already wasted enough time as is discussing this!" Cynder said, slightly raising her voice.

"Cynder, I'm just as worried about our egg as you are, but we also need to know if Ember is okay enough to join us. Besides, there's still some stuff that doesn't add up..."

"You mean _other_ than the fact Pinky has an over-active imagination?"

"No... When I mentioned Deadlock to her, she didn't recognize it. There's also the fact that, the way she's talking, it's like she actually _believes_ her story is real."

The group gazed over slightly to Ember, who felt rather uncomfortable. She didn't like how they were whispering something, and from their looks she could only assume it was about her story. She was beginning to wonder if telling them that had been a bad idea, but what else was she supposed to do? It was like everything she had ever known had been turned upside down, and her story was the only thing that could hopefully make sense of it all.

_'If only I could actually remember what happened in between the Sorceress revealing herself and floating in the void. Ugh, I feel like it was important, and yet...'_

Ember's train of thought was quickly interrupted when the door to the room they were in opened. The older dragons returned while her mother waited beside the door.

"Ember," the icy blue dragon said, catching her attention. "It would appear your mother has some concerns about you going on this journey. She is afraid that all this going on may be starting to get to you."

Ember felt a bit intimidated as she struggled to find a way to respond. Before she could say anything, Spyro had already spoken up. "Cyril, is it possible for Deadlock to alter a dragon's memory?"

Cyril appeared to be rather confused by the comment, a straining expression coming over his face as he racked his brain for an answer. "I...don't believe so. Why do you ask?"

Spyro looked up at the guardian of ice before looking towards Ember. Nervously shifting around, her eyes darting back and forth, Ember gulped when she noticed how it didn't take much for Cyril to make the connection.

"Ember, is there something wrong?" Cyril asked. Once again, the room's attention was on the pink dragoness.

Ember stared blankly at the crowd, her mouth repeatedly opening and closing as she struggled to find an answer. Despite how much she tried, no words could come out of her mouth. Exactly how was she suppose to explain all this when she didn't even know _what_ was going on anymore? Yesterday she had been on a vacation with her uncle in the Artisan realm, and now she was in some middle earth setting with a bunch of dragons who knew her and yet she had no clue who they were, and no one remembered anything that she'd done. Ember grabbed her head in frustration as things were finally becoming too much to bear.

"I... I don't know any more. I just don't know..."

The older green dragon stepped towards Ember, looking down at the dragoness with concern. "Ember, maybe it might be best if you did sit this out for now. You may be the new fire guardian, but you're also still quite young. You've never had to deal with anything like this before."

"Indeed. Though Spyro and Cynder are about your age, they've also been through quite a lot since their birth. By now, I suspect they are rather used to it, and thus better at handling the stress that comes with a grandiose, expansive, and glorious adventure such as this. Why, I suspect—"

Had it not been for her current confusion, Ember's ears likely would have fallen off from how fast and long the older yellow dragon chattered on. Though she had been taught to always respect her elders, Ember was quick to tune the dragon out as she was once again lost in thought. She was quick to note that the green dragon had mentioned she was the new fire guardian, a title she never remembered getting, or even knew _what_ it meant. She looked over to Spyro and Cynder, both of them giving her a concerned look, before looking over to the doorway where her mother was standing.

Ember sighed. Though the idea of going on an adventure with her hero was an amazing thought, she barely knew how much of this world was like she remembered, and more than anything else, she wanted some answers.

"If...if it's okay, I'd like to stay..."

One could have heard a pin drop as things went silent. Ember could have sworn she saw a bit of hurt on Cynder's face when she said that, if only for just a second before she hid it quite well. Cyril gave Ember a concerned look as he stepped towards her.

"Are you sure, Ember? Spyro and Cynder could use the extra help."

_'To be honest, even if I knew what was going on, I don't know how much help I'd actually be...'_

Ember looked over to the two dragons in question. Spyro looked at her with concern, while Cynder's expression was that of indifference. She sagged with despair at the thought of disappointing her hero, and that flash of hurt Cynder had shot her for a second had also caused her some distress, despite only just meeting her. However, she didn't have much choice in the matter. With how unfamiliar everything was, she would likely end up being more of a hindrance than anything else.

"Yes... I'm sure."

Once again, she could have sworn she saw a look of hurt on Cynder's face as she finished her reply. The elder dragons looked amongst themselves silently before the mighty green dragon stepped forward. "Very well, Ember. If that is your choice."

As the dragon elders started to exit the room, Ember looked at the other two dragons, her head held low.

"...I'm sorry," she said. It was the only thing she really could say at the moment.

Spyro gave her an understanding look as he walked over to her. "It's alright, Ember. For now, just get some rest."

Ember gave him a faint smile before he walked over to Cynder. The black dragoness gave her a stoic look, and a sigh escaped Ember's lips as the two of them took to the air and flew out the window to start their journey.

Right now, getting some rest sounded like a _really_ good idea.

* * *

Ember sat in a large room at what she could only assume was the middle of the temple. Oddly, unlike any of the other rooms in the temple that seemed rather recently built, this room had an old rustic charm to it. Though there were some touch-ups to fix some minor cracks here and there, the paint on the walls looked rather worn and dull, and the decor was rather lacking with only a slight trim at the top and bottom of the walls and doors. In the middle sat a large pool, unlike any she had ever seen. It swirled slowly in the center, throwing faint sparkles in the air that grew stronger as they reached the middle.

"Well, Terrador? Anything?" Cyril asked as the dragon elders crowded around the pool.

The green dragon let out a slightly annoyed grunt while he shook his head. "No... There's nothing in the pool of visions about what's going on with Ember, unfortunately."

"Hmmm... Maybe it's amnesia?"

"If it is, it's unlike any case I've ever heard of."

"Indeed," the yellow dragon said, butting into the conversation. "In most cases of amnesia, beings usually forget everything but the most basic survival functions. However, in Ember's case, she has completely new memories of a time unlike anything that has happened, dating back to when she was still an infant. It's most perplexing..."

"Yes, Volteer. Quite perplexing indeed," Cyril replied, a semi-sarcastic tone in his voice due to his fellow guardian's tendency to ramble on.

Ember sighed as she looked towards the ground, scrunching her face in disgruntled annoyance. She was beginning to wonder if telling these dragons what she had told Spyro and Cynder had been a good idea. True, they would likely find out eventually—she hadn't even known their names up until a few seconds ago—but ever since she told them, the dragon elders had done nothing but ask her questions repeatedly while staring at that pool of water. Letting out a sigh, she looked back at the guardians as they talked amongst themselves.

 _'I suppose I should be thankful that they're willing to believe me at the very least, instead of just assuming I've gone off the deep end,'_ she thought to herself with a slight smile, though it quickly disappeared as she looked down at the ground, losing herself in her train of thought.

 _'Still, even I'm not sure if I even believe myself anymore... Yet all the things I remember, they couldn't have just been planted there somehow! I remember back when I was still almost a hatchling, back when I had only just learned how to walk. And Spyro...'_ Ember squinted in pain as she remembered that horrid scream of agony. She was so lost in thought she didn't even notice her mother walking up next to her.

"How are you holding up?" she asked, causing Ember to jump a bit in surprise.

She gave her mother a sad look and turned away. "Honestly... I'm not sure anymore."

Ember's mother gave her a soft, comforting look as she stroked the back of her head. "It'll be alright. We'll figure out what's going on soon enough, and things will go back to normal."

_'I sure hope so...'_

Ember gave her mother a faint smile, trying her best to put on a brave face despite everything. She turned back to watch the guardians talk amongst themselves. Well, it wasn't so much talking as it was Cyril and Volteer arguing while Terrador held his head in one of his paws in frustration. Ember couldn't help but chuckle at the scene, the first time she had done so since everything had started. Even though her entire world had suddenly been turned upside down, maybe things wouldn't be so bad.

"Ugh..." Ember shook her head, hers eyes starting to droop as she was suddenly having a hard time keeping them open. Her body started to wobble; it was like she had been suddenly hit with something that was starting to zap all the energy out of her.

Her mother was quick to take notice, looking at her with worry. "Ember? Are you alright?"

"I... I..." Ember struggled to find the words as a loud yawn escaped her lips. Her legs were getting weaker as she struggled to stand and, finally, whatever last bit of energy she had was sucked out of her.

Like she was suddenly hit with powerful knockout gas, Ember stumbled onto the ground with a hard thud. The last thing she remembered was hearing the panicked screams of her mother as the guardians looked over in shock.

* * *

_A thick cloud of smoke covered the area and only a faint glow could be seen shining inside it. As the dust cleared, the glow dissipated as Bianca uncovered her eyes. The rest of the group was in a daze from the explosion, but other than that they were mostly fine._

_Shaking his head, Hunter looked around the arena. The runes on the ground were scrapped beyond recognition and several chucks of the ground were missing from the blast, revealing some electrical circuitry below. Hunter grew worried as he noticed the once populated room was now deserted and, more importantly, his friend was no longer there._

_"Spyro? Spyro, are you there!?" he called as he ran to the middle of the room in a panic. Looking around as his worry grew, Hunter cupped his hands in front of his mouth to increase the volume of his voice._ _"Spyro!"_

_The cheetah frowned in defeat when he didn't get a response. Sheila hopped over to some of the exposed circuitry, eyeing it curiously before she turned back to Bianca._

_"What exactly happened here?" she asked the most obvious question. Bianca gave her a worrying look._

_"Well, if I'm correct... It's likely something you won't want to hear," she said grimly as she walked over to the exposed circuitry and knelt down to get a better look._

_Sgt. Byrd narrowed his eyes before he flew over towards the rabbit. Catching her attention, the penguin stared at her straight in the eyes._ _"Bianca, even if it's hard to hear, we have a right to know. Now, what happened to Spyro and the others? The blast didn't... Well...you know..."_

 _Bianca bit her lip as she watched Sgt. Byrd struggle to ask the question no one else was willing to. With a shake of her head, Bianca looked over to the group, who were watching her with worried expressions on their faces. She sighed._ _"No... The blast didn't kill them. However, compared to what I think it did to them, they might have wished it had."_

 _Bentley raised an eyebrow, trying his best to subdue his shock as he stepped forward._ _"Bianca, what are you saying? What could possibly be worse than one's untimely end?"_

 _Bianca looked away, her eyelids drooping before she looked back at the group, her face overcome with grief._ _"Well... To put it bluntly..."_

* * *

"Mmmph..."

Ember struggled to her feet as she felt her energy starting to come back to her. The first thing she felt was the sensation of something leaving her mind, like a faint memory that had long since been forgotten. Maybe it was that important thing she couldn't remember for the life of her. Regardless, shrugging it off, she raised her head and looked around her. Her spirits fell when she quickly realised she was no longer in the temple.

_'Oh great..._ **_Now_ ** _where am I?'_

Ember's eyes widened at the bizarre sight around her. As far as she could see, ruins of a temple of sorts were floating around a vast and empty void. Ember shuddered a bit at how eerie and calm it was, suddenly feeling rather small. She looked down at her body, noticing that she was once again her correct age.

_'Well, at least I'm the age I remember being again.'_

Becoming anxious, she looked back and forth for any sign of life, almost afraid to call out less it attract whatever abominations could inhabit this place.

"He-hello? Is anyone there?"

Ember gulped when she got no response, her body starting to tremble.

_"You're quite the long way from home, young one."_

Ember jumped in fright when she heard a sudden voice, giving a shrill shriek as she looked around to see where it had come from. Seemingly coming from all around her in the void, the voice chuckled at her reaction.

_"My apologies. I did not mean to frighten you."_

Ember's eyes were wide open in confusion, looking around to see who was talking to her. Despite the fact that the owner of the voice was nowhere to be seen, at the same time Ember couldn't help but be comforted by it. It had an old and wise quality to it, and didn't sound hostile in the slightest. As the fear started to subside and she lowered her body to the ground, Ember looked up at the void.

"Wh-who are you?"

_"I have gone by many names in my time. However, to most, I am known as the Chronicler."_

"The Chronicler..." Ember lowered her head to look around at her surroundings. The presence of another being, even if she couldn't see him, helped to quell the eeriness of the void. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to tell me where I am, huh?"

_"There are many ways to describe it. To put it quite simply, think of this place as a pocket realm that exists in one's soul."_

Ember reeled back, her eyes wide and mouth open at the Chronicler's statement.

"This is my soul!?" she exclaimed, looking around the area in a new light. Ember paused before she slouched a little. "I'm not sure what unsettles me more... The fact that I'm somehow in my own soul, or how creepy my soul looks."

_"I guess you could say that. It's not exactly your soul_ _per se_ _, but without you, this place wouldn't exist."_

Ember paused before she looked up at the sky with a blank expression. "Uh... Okay. I think I get it... I guess."

The Chronicler couldn't help but chuckle, a chuckle that did not go unnoticed by Ember. Pouting slightly, she could hear the Chronicler slightly clear his voice.

 _"I'd be lying if I said it wasn't complicated. However, that is a topic for another time,"_ the Chronicler said, a sudden serious tone coming over his voice. _"As I said before, you're quite a long way from home."_

"Yeah... I kind of figured that out. What happened exactly? The last thing I remember was the Sorceress casting a spell, then getting hit with a magical wave, and then waking up in some sort of medieval fantasy where nothing's how I remember."

_"Ah, yes. I don't know the full details, but I can tell you that the wave of energy did mess with your memories a bit."_

Ember's body tensed up at the Chronicler's words, her face drooping with worry as she gulped. "So... E-everything I remember really is fake?"

_"Oh, no. Perish the thought. I can reassure you that the memories you do remember are quite, in fact, real."_

Ember let out a deep sigh of relief, her body relaxing as a slight smile crossed her face. _'That's a relief... At least I know I'm not nuts.'_

_"It would seem the wave of magic only messed with your most recent memories at the time, to where you can only remember the most traumatic parts of the experience."_

Ember winced at the thought. Of all the things she could have remembered, the part with Spyro was the one thing she would have liked to forget.

_"However, I believe there's a way you can restore your memories of the event. Once you do, it will become apparent what exactly is happening to you."_

Ember raised an eyebrow, confused yet curious at the same time. She did feel like she had forgotten something important, yet at the same time she couldn't see how _anything_ could explain what was happening to her at this point. Regardless, it was the closest lead she had to a definite answer, so she might as well take it.

"Okay, then how exactly am I supposed to do that?"

_"As said before, this place is a pocket dimension that exists in your soul. As such, there are ways to influence it through here. Slightly changing one's personality, dealing with one's grief in a physical form, and even retrieving the most obscure of memories is merely a trivial task here."_

Ember listened intently, entranced by the Chronicler's words. Never in her wildest dreams could she imagine a place like this existed, all because she herself existed. However, the idea of accidentally altering her personality caused her great worry.

"Uh... I don't suppose you could just tell what happened instead, huh?" she asked, giving a shy toothy smile. "I mean, it sounds like you already know what's going on here, and I don't want to accidentally change my personality to where I'm rude, easily annoyed, or have a hard time trusting even my closest friends or anything like that."

The Chronicler chuckled at the dragoness' words, and in a gentle voice replied, _"True. I could tell you what happened, but I predict you have a long journey ahead of you, young one. It would also seem you are a bit lacking in some of the most basic of dragon skills. If you have any hope of making it through this journey, then some basic training is also in order, which works out perfectly with our current situation."_

Worry enveloped Ember's face as she sat silent. She had hoped that, when the Chronicler said that she would finally figure out what was going on, it would justify why things were so different or how she could fix everything. However, when he mentioned that she had a long journey ahead of her, a part of her heart sank. She had barely survived that wave of energy, and had been easily captured by Gnasty and Ripto. Heck, just walking to the temple that morning had greatly tired her out.

She wasn't Spyro after all. She couldn't handle a long journey like that. Yet, despite her concern, she couldn't shake the feeling deep down inside her soul when it finally sank in. A growing anxiousness, a chance to be hero instead of a worshipper, and this sudden excitement in her heart...

Ember shook her heard, surprised by her thought process. Had she actually just admitted she was a hero worshipper? That couldn't be right. She knew she loved Spyro because of who he was, and not because he was a hero. And these feelings of excitement... Was part of her actually looking forward to the thought of going on a journey of her own?

The Chronicler could sense her contemplation, and despite the fact that Ember couldn't see him at the moment, he gave her a soft, comforting smile.

_"I know that this is all a bit much to take in. I will give you a few seconds to make your decision, though do know tha—"_

"AHA!"

The Chronicler was interrupted when a sudden voice pierced the air. Ember jumped in surprise as a figure landed on the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. Ember's face was stricken with fright as she looked around for a place to run to, growing increasingly anxious when she saw there were no nearby platforms to jump to.

As the dust started to clear, the figure spoke. "Alright, it's time for some explanations! Who are you, and why did you— _!_ "

The figure was silenced when the dust cloud finally dissipated. Ember's mouth dropped and her eyes shot open in shock. Standing there and mirroring her exact expression of shock and confusion…was herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this took so long. Dialogue heavy, exposition-y chapters usually take me a while to write. Anyways, I've decided to leave all my opinions on the chapter and it's contents at the end of the chapters from now on, with the disclaimers to the original fic and my beta-reader at the top. That way I don't have to worry about rambling sense people can just skip over it if they don't feel like reading it.
> 
> Anyways, overall I liked how it turned out. I was debating whether I should continue with soul world part, but I eventually decided against it. I'm trying to keep this chapters around 6,000-10,000 words in length so they don't take forever to read through, and don't take me forever to write. 
> 
> Speaking of which... Yes, I do know that in the games, those void worlds the Chronicler takes Spyro to are technically called 'Elemental Dreams' according to the Spyro Wiki, and that I did retcon them for the purpose of this fic. In my defense, I always felt like those worlds were a bit too personal to just be dreams, what with Spyro managing to regain his elements through them and what not. Even with the Chronicler's help, I doubt a dream would allow him to do that.
> 
> Also, I opened up a Forum for this fic. Currently, it's on the second page of the archives. Mostly it'll be used for asking questions and as an easy way to suggest fics to visit, but feel free to use it as a general Forum to discuss pretty much anything. I also explained my reasoning for why I used Ember as the main protagonist for this fic instead of Spyro or Cynder there, so if anyone was curious about that, feel free to drop by and take a look.
> 
> But will Ember finally be able to figure out what's going on? What about this look a like? And how will Spyro and Cynder fair without Ember to assist them? Find out next time!


	4. A New Dawn pt. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ('The Legend of Spyro: A New Dawn' was originally created by the FF.N User Kendell.
> 
> Chapter beta-read by: Riverstyxx.)

The drop of a pin could have been heard in the void as the two beings stared at each other. Ember wasn't exactly sure what to say. Standing in front of her was herself, or at least someone who _looked_ like her. The other dragoness was noticeably older than her, looking to be about the same age Ember had been when she'd woken up that morning. Other than that, though, the resemblance was uncanny. Same pink scales, same eye color, and even the same heart-shaped necklace.

Judging from her reaction, the 'other Ember' was just as confused to see her as she was. A few seconds passed as the two struggled to find the words to say, but no matter how hard they tried, nothing would come out of their mouths.

Finally, the Chronicler spoke up. _'Ah, it would seem that her will was indeed strong enough.'_

The other Ember raised her head at the voice, looking around for its owner. Ember watched, wide-eyed, as the dragoness in front of her almost mirrored the reaction she'd had. Finally, with mild annoyance crossing her face, the other Ember spoke up. "Alright, what is going on here? Who was that, and who are you? Why do you look like a young version of me?"

Ember hunched down with fright as the dragoness walked up to her, standing tall and giving her a firm yet demanding look. Confused and scared, she struggled to find a proper explanation, which, given the fact that she didn't fully understand what was going on, was easier said than done.

"Uh... W-well... That voice was a being known as the Chronicler," she muttered.

The other dragoness' eyes widened as she gasped. " _The Chronicler!?_ "

"Umm... Yeah. The Chronicler," Ember said meekly, cringing a bit at the older dragoness' reaction.

The other Ember was quick to return to the situation at hand. Wincing as she went back to giving her an imposing stare, Ember continued. "As for the questions... Really, I could be asking you the same thing."

The other Ember raised an eyebrow, causing Ember to gulp. Wondering if she'd said something wrong, she backed up slowly to put some distance between them. The other Ember was quick to notice, giving the younger dragoness an intimidating glare. Though this dragoness was quite young and looked almost exactly like she'd had when she was twelve, she was the only other being she'd found in this void after hours of searching, and thus her only lead as to what exactly was going on. As such, she would be _damned_ if she was going to let her get away.

Luckily, before things could get out of hand, the Chronicler finally spoke up. _"Calm down. All will become clear in due time. For now, this does present the perfect opportunity..."_

Both Embers looked up with confusion on their faces as the Chronicler cleared his throat.

 _"Let me explain it this way. The being both of you see before you is you, in a sense,"_ he said, though it did little to help the two understand what was going on. _"It will become clearer as things go on. For now, would the older of you two be willing to assist me with the younger one?"_

The other Ember pondered the Chronicler's request, placing a claw on her chin. On one hand, this copycat was currently controlling her body, and she barely knew who or _what_ this girl was. On the other hand, it was a request from the Chronicler himself. True, she only knew the Chronicler from what Spyro had told her, but from what she heard, he was a very wise mystical being who should be respected. A request from him would likely be a high honor. It was also the only chance she had of possibly getting her body back at the moment.

"... I suppose so. Though, I'm not sure exactly what it is I need to do."

_"For now, I need you to serve as this one's guide through this realm. Do that, and I can guarantee you'll get your body back."_

Ember watched anxiously as the other Ember and the Chronicler were discussing like she wasn't even there. The Chronicler said that, if she did this, she would get her body back. Did that mean the body she was in wasn't her own? And what would happen to her when this other... _her_...got her body back?

Ember sighed. It was like for every one question she got an answer to, twenty more would pop up.

_"Now then, enough talking. I believe it is time we begin the exploration."_

With that, far off in the void, a pillar of light came into being. Both Embers looked on in awe as the beam pierced the darkness and started to light up several of the floating landmasses, which formed a path to where the beam was coming down. The other Ember gave a confident grin as she stepped forward towards that path.

"No problem. This will be quick!" she said, unfolding her wings and, with a mighty jump, soaring into the air.

Ember looked on with an expression of admiration on her face. The other Ember looked down at her while hovering in the air. "You coming?"

Not a second after that was said, the look of admiration was replaced with a rather meek expression as Ember diverted her eyes. "Uuuh, about that..."

The other Ember raised an eyebrow, pausing as she watched the other her shuffle around nervously. It didn't take a genius to figure out why she was so embarrassed, but what puzzled her was the fact that, if this other dragoness was suppose to be a part of her, why didn't she already know how to fly? By that age, she had been giving her mother heart attacks with how fast she would zoom around the sky. Though, the fact that they had been in the middle of a war at the time with what she would later learn was a brainwashed and crazy dragoness patrolling the skies probably had something to do with that. But that was another topic all together.

Flying down to the smaller dragoness, she gave her an enquiring look. "Let me guess... You don't know how to fly, do you?"

In response, Ember just gave a slight, sheepish nod. The other Ember gave an understanding smile as she placed a paw on the younger one's shoulder. "Well, that's no problem! Flying's actually rather easy once you learn the secret to it. All you have to do is—"

_"I'm afraid the flying lesson will have to wait for later. Though I know you are anxious to get your body back, there's a reason I set up this specific path."_

Ember looked up with a puzzled expression. "I thought you said this was my soul...realm...thing. Shouldn't I be the only one who can do that?"

The other Ember tilted her head at the dragoness' question. _'Her world? Shouldn't that be the other way around?'_

Before she could interject, though, the Chronicler spoke up. _"You could say it's one of the powers that come with being the Chronicler. Granted, they're very limited in what they can do. For example, though I may be able alter things slightly, I can't do anything you wouldn't want me to, nor could I alter your personality in any way."_

Ember listened intently at the Chronicler's words, managing to grasp what he was explaining rather quickly. "So, because I want to find my memories, you were able to do that light trick to show me a path to them?"

_"More or less. Now then, Ember, shall we proceed?"_

"Okay!"

"Alright..."

Both Embers paused, having replied at the same time, the older dragoness' more confident tone managing to overpower the younger's. An awkward silence followed as both of the Ember's looked at each other, no longer able to deny the elephant in the room.

Finally, the older of the two was the first to break the silence. "Okay, this is going to get confusing. _Quickly_."

Despite still being a bit intimidated by the older dragoness, the younger was quick to nod in agreement. "What are we supposed to do about it, though?"

"Well, I think that'd be rather obvious," the older Ember stated, snapping her claws with a grin on her face. "One of us will have to go by a nickname for the time being." She sat down, raising a paw to herself. "And since you're the being who started controlling my body without my say so, I think it's only fair that I get to keep my actual name."

Distress appeared on the younger Ember's face as she meekly raised a paw in front of her mouth. "Bu—"

Before she could protest, the older dragoness started rambling off names, completely unaware of the growing distress finding its way onto her young counterpart's face.

"Hmm... Maybe Flare would be good...? Nah, that's too generic of a fire dragon's name. Sky, maybe? No, wait, you can't fly so... Oh, I know! Scarlet! I've always liked the name Scarlet for whatever reason."

The younger of the two gave a sheepish grin as the older Ember was completely wrapped up in her train of thought. "If you like it so much, why don't you use it, then?"

"Because I already told you. You're already controlling my body, so it's only fair I at least get to keep my name."

"But... but..."

The younger Ember started to pout, her sad eyes somehow almost doubling in size as she put on the most pitiful look she could muster. Her older counterpart cringed at the sight, quickly realizing what was going on. That was the same exact look she'd used to give her mother when she'd wanted to do something but had been told no.

She narrowed her eyes, putting on a stern glare as she crossed her front paws. "That's not going to work, you know."

Despite her claim, the younger dragoness continued to keep the pitiful look up. If for only a second, the older Ember's expression softened, but she quickly shook it off and went back to her stern glare. _'No, Ember! Stay strong! Stay strong!'_

"I know what you're up to! I used to do the same thing to my mom when I was your age, you know!"

As if by some impossibility, the younger Ember managed to put on an even more pitiful face, her sad frown becoming pronounced as she started to fake a sniffle. The older Ember had a hard time keeping her composure, her glare softening as her scowl became something that could only be described as halfway between a disapproving frown and a look of pity.

"Ugh..." She finally let out a sigh of defeat. " _Fine..._ I'll take the nickname."

Ember's expression instantly perked up at her older counterpart's words. With uncanny speed, she ran up to the newly nicknamed 'Scarlet' and gave her a hug. "Thanks!"

Despite her slight annoyance at succumbing to one of her own old tricks, Scarlet couldn't help but smile at the young dragoness' delight. _'Now I know how my mother felt when I was young. Got to remember to apologize to her once I get my body back.'_

The Chronicler couldn't help but chuckle at the scene. Despite the humor of the situation, however, he couldn't deny that the kind of attitude Ember had just displayed could cause her problems in the future. True, she was still quite young, but even then most dragons her age would have grown out of that kind of attitude by now. If she didn't learn to do the same, she could be in for a rude awakening in the future.

Without another word, the two finally continued on. Scarlet led the way as she opened her wings, jumping and gliding to a nearby platform. Ember walked up to the edge, hunching down as she crawled towards it. Her blood ran cold as she looked at the bottomless drop off. Ember took a few steps back.

Noticing her fear, Scarlet flashed Ember a reassuring smile. "Don't worry! I promise I'll catch you if you fall!"

Ember paused at her words. It wasn't that she couldn't glide; it was just that high places tended to make her uncomfortable. Considering she was a dragon, it was a silly fear, but it was just one of those things one was afraid of without a good rational reason. It would be different if she could fly, but her body tended to lock up when she had to glide over a deep pit. Regardless, Ember found some comfort in Scarlet's words. With a deep breath, she hunched back, spread her wings, and charged forward.

With a mighty leap, Ember closed her eyes as she felt the air rushing past her. Despite the wind mostly coming from in front of her, it did nothing to quell Ember's fear of falling. She hoped to touch solid ground soon. Then, with a solid thud, Ember hit the ground and rolled, coming to a stop on her stomach. Timidly opening her eyes, she saw Scarlet standing a short way away from her, giving a slight chuckle.

"Not bad. However, try doing it with your eyes open next time."

Ember pouted. Regardless, she picked herself up and walked over to Scarlet. The older dragoness jumped and glided to another platform, and Ember took a deep breath at the thought of having to do it again. This time, she only hesitated for a second before she jumped forth, eyes closed as she glided through the dark void and once again crash-landed on the next platform.

The two kept this up, Scarlet leading the way with Ember reluctantly following behind. With each jump, Ember's confidence grew. She hesitated less and less with each jump, and even managed to keep her eyes open for a few seconds at the start of her glide. Ember started to feel her anxiety lessen as she slowly started to grow fond of the wind rushing past her while in the air.

As Scarlet glided to another platform, Ember didn't even hesitate to follow her with ease, this time managing to keep her eyes open the entire glide and for once landing on her feet. Scarlet looked back at her with a smile. In return, Ember gave a confident grin.

The Chronicler was relieved at how quickly Ember managed to grow accustomed to making such daring jumps. She might have appeared to be a bit coddled, but if need be, it seemed she could force her way past her own shortcomings. _"Excellent. Now, I believe it is time I prepare the next test."_

As the two dragons landed on the next platform, there was a flash of light and two rock creatures appeared before them. Ember gulped as they stood up and started to approach them menacingly, but Scarlet was quick to take a defensive stance, hunching down and giving a low growl.

"Um... Mr. Chronicler," Ember said as she slowly backed away behind Scarlet. "What's going on?"

_"Do not worry, young one. These beasts will not seriously harm you."_

_'Why doesn't that reassure me?'_ Ember thought, her spirits falling as she hunched down behind Scarlet in fear.

_"Tell me, Ember. How good are you at breathing fire?"_

Ember cringed at the question. She had feeling where this might be going, and she didn't like it.

"Umm... Well..." she muttered, a sheepish smile creeping onto her face. "I-I can _breathe_ it, if that's what you're asking."

 _Technically_ it wasn't a lie. She could breathe fire. She just wasn't particularly _good_ at it.

_"Well then, you should have no trouble using it against these enemies, then."_

"Wh-what!?" Ember exclaimed, shock overcoming her expression as she took a few steps back. "U-uh, what about Scarlet?! I'm sure she could easily do that! She's already raring to go!"

The thought of having to fight scared her greatly. She wasn't Spyro, after all, and after the ordeal with Gnasty Gnorc and Ripto, where even her attempt to 'fight', if you could call it that, had ended with her nearly plummeting to her death, how could anyone expect her to hold her own in a battle?

Scarlet looked back at Ember with slight annoyance, if only for the idea of having to take care of things on her own. True, at that age she hadn't exactly been big on the idea, either, but with the war going on, she at least knew the basics of combat and was willing to hold her own if it came to that. If this dragoness was supposed to be her, then why was she so _different_ from how _she_ was? However, before she could ask any questions, the Chronicler spoke up.

 _"True, 'Scarlet' could easily dispatch these foes, but I want to know if_ you _can. I can see the path ahead of you is a long one, so being able to defend one's self is imperative. Now then, if you please."_

Ember gulped, shaking quite a bit as she realized there was no getting out of this. Hesitantly, she left the safety of Scarlet's side and crept up towards the golems. Despite the menacing glares they were giving her, neither of them bothered to take a swing at her.

_'Guess I should at least be grateful for that...'_

Ember paused, looking back with worry on her face. Scarlet was still on guard, but Ember she noticed the slight tinge of curiosity on her face as she watched closely. Ember sighed as she looked back towards the golems. A short pause followed as she tried to work up the courage, worried greatly about how horribly this would likely end. Finally, when she heard the Chronicler clear his throat, she knew she could put this off no longer.

Taking a deep breath, an orange light started to build up in the back of her throat. With one swift move, Ember let loose a burst of flames, quickly followed by a fit of coughing as she scratched her neck in a vain attempt to get rid of the tickling feeling. The flames barely did anything to the golems. The one who was hit looked at the other one before looking back at Ember.

With a swift snap of its hand, Ember was smacked in the face and sent tumbling backwards with an 'eek!' As she smacked into a nearby wall, she opened her eyes to see Scarlet giving her a weird look. The blood rushed to her face and she was thankful her scale color was naturally pink. Ember buried her face into her paws as she laid on the ground.

_"Well, seems like you still have much to learn."_

Ember didn't bother to say anything. She just peeked through her claws at Scarlet, who was now giving Ember a look of concern.

_"It's a good thing we have the fire guardian here, then."_

At this, Scarlet's face became riddled with confusion as she looked up towards the sky. "Huh? What am I supposed to do?"

The Chronicler chuckled slightly in response. _"Surely you must know. As the guardian of fire, it will be your job to teach young fire dragons how to properly use their element. As such, this will be a test for both of you. Ember for her ability to use fire, and you for your ability to teach it."_

Scarlet became slightly worried by the Chronicler's words. In all honesty, the main reason she ended up becoming the new fire guardian was because she was one of the few fire dragons left at the time. She wouldn't even know where to begin when it came to teaching someone else how to use their fire. Most of the things she had learned about it were self-taught from watching natural fires and how they behaved, something which she doubted she had the time to do with Ember.

Scarlet shook her head. If what the Chronicler said was true, she knew she would have to figure this out sooner or later. Though a bit reluctant, she walked over to Ember, who still had her face buried in her paws. Scarlet gave a soft smile as she tapped Ember on the shoulder. Ember barely peeked through her claws to look up at her. Having learned most of her fire abilities through observation, maybe the best way to start this off was through example.

"Okay. First off, I want you to watch me."

Ember watched as Scarlet walked over to one of the golems. Scarlet didn't flinch in the slightest as the golem took a threatening stance. Taking a short breath, she let loose a solid stream of flames, and the golem recoiled as it washed over him. It only took a few seconds before it fell over, disappearing in a flash of light. Not a second later, another golem teleported in. Scarlet gave it a curious look as it walked forward to where the previous golem had been.

_"A good example, Scarlet. Just know, though, while you may be able to deal damage to them, only Ember can get rid of them for good."_

Scarlet had guessed as much. Turning back towards Ember, she noticed the look of awe on the young dragoness' face. Ember was surprised at how long Scarlet had managed to keep her fire breath going. Even the elders she knew from home weren't able to keep their fire going for more than a few seconds. Even Spyro could only let loose a short burst of flames without the help of a power-up gate.

"Alright, try giving it another go."

Ember flinched at Scarlet's words, slowly picking herself up and creeping over to the golems. Maybe there was something in Scarlet's attempt that could help her with this? Shaking her head, she hunched down a bit as she got closer to the golem. After taking a few breaths, Ember finally took a gasp of air...only to let loose a short burst of flames followed by a fit of coughing. Through it all, though, Ember remembered what had happened last time. She barely managed to jump back and avoid a punch from the golem, toppling over onto her back as she did so.

Scarlet sighed. This was going to be harder than she thought...

* * *

If time could pass in this place, it felt like a half hour had gone by. Scarlet watched Ember closely with each attempt to use her flames. So far, the only real improvement was the fact that Ember was starting to get the hang of dodging out of the way of the golems' attacks. The one thing that puzzled Scarlet greatly was why she kept coughing after each use of fire. She had never really heard of such a thing before. Granted, the only dragon she had grown up around was her mother, but if she could just figure out what was causing Ember's problem, then maybe she could speed things up.

"Ember."

Ember paused when Scarlet spoke up, having just dodged the golem's attempt to smack her for the hundredth time. Ember turned around to face her, and Scarlet put a claw to her chin. "Tell me something... Exactly why do you end up coughing so much when you use your fire?"

Ember stood silently for a few seconds as she pondered what Scarlet had asked her.

"I guess it's because I rarely ever had to use it before, so I'm not really used to it," she said with a shrug.

Scarlet raised an eyebrow at what Ember had said. She knew for a fact that wasn't true; at least, if she really _was_ supposed to be her in some way. Though she had mostly managed to avoid the war against Malefor while growing up, she had still studied the fire element from a young age. Fire breathing had been the first thing she'd mastered. There were also a few times when she'd needed to use it for self-defence growing up, too, so it was a skill this young one should have already known by now.

Noticing that Ember was starting to give her a worried look, Scarlet decided not to press on that issue.

"Okay then, what is it like when you're trying to breathe fire?" Scarlet asked, hoping to change the subject to calm Ember down.

"Well, it's kind of like...like it's tickling my throat. Like there's a massive ball of fire deep down inside me and I'm trying to let it out, only to end up burning my throat instead."

Scarlet looked at Ember, letting her words sink in. That was nothing like when _she_ would breathe fire, so why would it be...? Scarlet's eyes went wide, a grin finding its way onto her face when the realization finally hit her.

"I think I got it!" she exclaimed. She walked over to Ember and placed a paw on her shoulder. "I think I know why you're having such a hard time with this!"

Ember looked at Scarlet, eyes wide as she wondered what it could be.

"Really? What's the problem?" she asked, a wave of curiosity and excitement washing over her.

"Well, to put it simply, you're trying too hard."

Ember was puzzled by Scarlet's comment, unsure of what she meant. How could she be trying too hard when it came to breathing fire? Noticing that Ember wasn't getting what she said, Scarlet continued. "You're trying to force the flames out. That's why you keep burning your throat. The fundamental base of fire, and I would assume any element, is that you can't force it to do what you want."

Ember still seemed puzzled by Scarlet's explanation, raising a claw to speak. "If that's the case, then how are you supposed to breathe fire at all?"

Scarlet gave a confident smile, having the answer already. "It's kind of like this. Think of the element as a living being, someone who lends you its power when you need it. Call on its power; let it flow through your veins... Once you do, breathing fire will almost become second nature."

Despite the explanation, Ember still seemed rather confused. With how mundane and easy the other dragons she knew made breathing fire look, she never knew it could sound so mystical. Shaking her head, she turned back to the golems. She didn't fully understand it, but as a sudden wave of intrigue washed over her, she felt a new excitement to test out what Scarlet had said.

Walking over to the golem, this time staying out of its striking range, Ember paused. _'Call on its power... Let it flow through your veins...'_

She closed her eyes, momentarily lost in thought as the world slowly started to tune out around her. It was as if, in that second, things ceased to exist around her as Scarlet's words floated through her head. She could feel an odd warm feeling starting to well up somewhere in her chest, like her fire was there, waiting for her. It was almost as if it wanted to be called upon, to be used as a partner in battle and not a tool. She didn't quite understand it, but at the same time it felt natural. She took a deep breath, the warm feeling growing hotter in anticipation.

With an exhale, this one slow and natural, a wave of flames flew out of Ember's throat, lasting for only a few seconds as they bathed over the golem. The itchy, irritating feeling that once plagued her throat was no longer there to distract her. Ember watched as the golem reeled back, flames still alight upon him as he fell and collapsed into pieces. As several small gems suddenly popped into existence, it took a few seconds for Ember to catch onto what she had just done.

"I... I did it," she muttered, her face full of disbelief. "I actually did it."

Scarlet smiled as she walked over to Ember, placing a paw on her back to congratulate her. Ember looked up at her, a slight, almost prideful smile appearing on her face.

 _'Her technique may still be a bit messy, but at least she appears to be a quick learner once it's explained to her.'_ The Chronicler made a mental note. It was certainly a useful trait to have, especially for the long road ahead of her.

_"Good job. You have passed your first test."_

As the last golem disappeared in a flash of light, a platform floated by, continuing the trail towards the pillar of light. Not wasting a second, the two were off, Scarlet leading the way while Ember followed closely behind. It didn't take long for them to land on the final platform. Ember had to hold one of her wings over her eyes from the blinding light. As the pillar started to fade, they saw at its base a pool of water, not unlike the one Ember had seen at the temple.

_"Now then, look into the pool of visions. In it, part of what's going on shall be revealed to you."_

Ember looked up and nodded, walking over to the pool with Scarlet at her side. The swirling vortex of sparkling water was quite the sight, but Ember didn't quite understand how that was supposed to explain anything. Then, before their very eyes, the pool started to glow and images started to appear in it of times gone by.

_"Besides, you were planning on killing a bunch of baby dragons! As far as I'm concerned, you got what you deserved!"_

_"Silence! Do you have any idea of what it's like!? To be trapped in a body that can't even perform basic movements without feeling pain!?"_

Scarlet watched in surprise when she saw the images in the pool. The view seemed to indicate they were looking through the eyes of another being, whom she could only assume to be herself. In her sight, a younger looking Spyro was tied down to the floor through magic bonds while some sort of deformed _thing_ paced around him. For Ember, it just brought up memories of the nightmare she had experienced.

_"Maybe not, but why should I care after what you attempted to do!?"_

_"Because, dragon... What_ I'm _about to do will be_ far _worse than what you did to me."_

With that, the images in the pool ceased. To say Scarlet was confused would be quite the understatement, but Ember had her own questions as well.

"Mr. Chronicler? Why did you show me that? I can remember that part," Ember said, looking up with mild confusion. _'Though I wish I couldn't...'_

_"Because young one, you're not the only one who needs to be clued in here."_

Ember looked to her side at the Chronicler's explanation. A very confused Scarlet looked back at her. "What exactly is going on here? I don't remember any of that... I didn't even meet Spyro until a few days ago."

While Scarlet puzzled, feelings of depression started to return to Ember as she remembered the 'nightmare' she'd had.

 _'A fate worse than what Spyro did to her...'_ she thought, eyelids drooping down over her blue eyes. Had the Sorceress really killed Spyro? But Spyro was still alive! She'd just talked to him not long ago...

Ember sighed as her body drooped. Things still weren't adding up.

_"Do not fret, young one. This is only one piece of the puzzle."_

As the Chronicler said this, another pillar of light appeared in the distance. Though both were still trying to figure things out, Scarlet and Ember knew the only way to get any answers was to continue on in the void.

* * *

The smell of salt water was thick in the air as Spyro and Cynder arrived on a scenic beach. It had been years since Spyro had visited the Chronicler on the White Isle, so he wasn't entirely sure how to get there. All he knew was that it involved flying over the ocean and the Chronicler summoning him there, so his best bet would be to try to replicate that result.

"Alright. The White Isle should be out there... I think."

Cynder raised an eyebrow at his statement, noting the lack of confidence in his voice. "You think?" she asked, walking in front of him. "Didn't you already travel there once?"

Spyro diverted his eyes, feeling a little embarrassed as he noticed the annoyed yet curious look she was giving him. "It's been a couple of years since I was last there, and I _was_ unconscious at the time, so..."

Spyro's cheeks flushed at the scowl Cynder was giving him before he looked at Sparx.

"Don't worry, I remember. Riding a giant freaky sea turtle thing isn't something you really forget."

"A _what_?" Cynder asked flatly, eyeing the dragonfly with a slight scowl on her face.

A little fear appeared on Sparx's face at the annoyed glance the dragoness was giving him. Flying behind one of Spyro's horns, he continued. "I know, I know, I could hardly believe it either when I first saw it, but I swear it's the truth!"

"Any idea on how to summon it, then?" Cynder asked, sounding annoyed.

Sparx and Spyro looked at each other for a few seconds, some confusion on their faces as they thought about it. Finally, Spyro looked back to Cynder. "To be honest, I was just going to try what happened the first time and hope it'd happen again."

Cynder's face drooped, her flat expression giving a Spyro a general idea of how she felt about that plan. "So we're just going to fly around the ocean like chickens with their heads cut off for who knows how long?"

Spyro raised an eyebrow at how aggravated Cynder seemed lately. True, she had quite the temper on her at times, but usually it was only on the battlefield. Noting that it wasn't until they had left the temple that she'd started acting this way, Spyro felt like he might have a good idea of what had caused it.

"Cynder, are you okay? You seem rather on edge at the moment," Spyro said, feeling he needed to address this now. If they were going to get their egg back, they needed to keep level heads about it.

Cynder scowled at Spyro's question. "Our egg is in danger, Spyro. Of course I'm on edge!"

Though Spyro knew that was part of it, he also knew it wasn't the only reason. "Cynder... Are you still bothered by what happened back at the temple?"

To this, Cynder looked away with a scowl. "Why would it bother me? Not having that pink pest here just means I won't have to put up with her constantly hitting on you."

Despite the venom her words held, Spyro didn't buy it for a second. "Cynder, I can tell that you're lying. You can tell me the truth."

Cynder paused, the scowl still on her face as she tried to divert her eyes away from Spyro. Soon, however, after a heavy sigh, Cynder looked back at him with a sad frown. "It bothers me a little, okay? I don't know what was up with her back there."

"I'm still wondering about that myself. It was like she was almost a completely different dragon," Spyro said, putting a claw on his chin.

"I'm tellin' ya, Deadlock's blow must have knocked a few screws loose or something," said Sparx.

Spyro ignored his adopted brother's comment, still noticing the hurt look on Cynder's face. "That's not the only thing that's bugging you, is it?"

Cynder sighed, looking away from Spyro again.

"How could she not help us try to get our egg back, Spyro? It's her fault that it ended up getting stolen in the first place," Cynder said, her eyes narrowing with slight anger.

"It wasn't her fault that our egg was stolen, Cynder. Even if she had tried to hide our egg first, Deadlock still would have found it in the hiding place with the others and took it regardless, and there's no way she could have fought her off on her own, either."

Cynder closed her eyes for a few seconds at Spyro's words before she let out a sigh and looked at the ground, her eyes drooping. She knew his words to be true.

"I know... It's just..." Cynder paused, then she shook her head and turned to the ocean. "Look, we're just wasting time talking about this."

She started to walk off. "Every passing second is another second our egg is in danger. You said that there might be a chance we could find the White Isle by flying. Well then, let's get to it already."

With that, Cynder unfolded her wings and took to the sky.

Spyro sighed. "Cynder..."

He could feel this wasn't over yet. Regardless, right now he didn't have much of a choice in the matter. He would have to wait until Cynder finally felt like talking about the real thing that was bugging her. For now, he would have to wait until they had some down time before he could have a chance of bringing it up again.

Unfolding his wings, Spyro took to the air and followed after his mate.

* * *

The trip through the void was surprisingly quicker now that Ember didn't hesitate at every single jump. They were already halfway to the next pillar of light when the Chronicler spoke up.

_"Now then, it is time for your next test."_

As the duo landed on a platform, two more golems appeared in a flash of light. This time, however, the two had wing-like appendages on their arms. Wasting no time, they took to the air and flew away from the platform before they started hovering in the air. Ember looked in confusion as she walked towards the edge. Even with her new-found control over breathing fire, there was no way her flames could reach the golems.

"So, what am I suppose to do?" she asked, turning back to Scarlet with a confused expression. Suddenly, like someone turned on a light bulb in her head, Ember's eyes got a bright sparkle in them as a big grin crept its way onto her face. "Wait, am I going to get to learn how to fly now?"

Before Scarlet could answer, however, the Chronicler cut in with a slight chuckle. _"In due time, young one. For now, we're still focusing on using your fire element."_

Ember's body drooped a bit as her grin was replaced by a sad frown.

_"Now then, I believe the idea of this test is rather obvious. How do you intend on using your fire to hit enemies far away?"_

Ember paused, staring blankly at the enemies as she tried to come up with an answer. She turned back, a sheepish grin on her face. "I don't suppose I could have a hint?"

_"I'm sure Scarlet has figured it out already. Maybe you should ask her."_

Scarlet tilted her head, letting loose a short sigh before she gave a small smile. "Yeah, yeah. I can take a hint," she said, chuckling slightly as she walked up to Ember's side. "Okay, this is a bit more complicated. Watch me."

Ember watched as Scarlet took a deep breath, tilting her head back slightly as she closed her mouth. Then, swinging her head forward, she opened it and shot a ball of fire at one of the flying golems. The blast knocked it down into the void. As another one spawned in to take its place, Ember looked at Scarlet with wide eyes and mouth gaping.

"That was amazing!"

Scarlet scratched the back of her head when she saw Ember looking at her with such admiration, but her blush was hidden by her pink scales. "Well, actually, next to standard fire breathing, that's one of the more basic fire elemental abilities."

"Really?" Ember asked, as she tilted her head. "I always thought dragons needed a superflame power-up to do that."

Scarlet paused, giving the young dragoness an odd look as she raised an eyebrow. " _A super_ _what_ _, what now_ _?_ "

"You know, a superflame power-up! It's this gate thing you go through, and it powers up your flame abilities to where you can even break things made of metal!"

Despite Ember's explanation, Scarlet still gave her an odd look. Whoever this dragoness really was, it was clear she had an active imagination.

 _'Though, that does sound pretty cool. Wonder what would happen if Spyro used it?'_ Scarlet thought, her mind starting to wander off. She chuckled to herself. _'I bet Deadlock wouldn't stand a chance against a super-powered purple dragon. I bet no one could, in that case.'_

Pushing that amusing thought aside, Scarlet quickly got back to the topic at hand.

"Anyways, shooting fireballs is actually rather easy. It's like breathing fire, but instead of letting loose a stream, let the fire build up inside you a bit before you release it. Then all you need to do is release it in a short burst, and that should produce a fireball."

Despite how simple it sounded, Ember wilted a little as she eyed the enemies floating far off. With a soft sigh, she took a solid stance towards them as Scarlet stepped away. With a deep breath, Ember tilted her head back. It was a rather odd feeling as she tried to hold her flames for a bit, almost like a slight tickling sensation in her chest. Then, following Scarlet's words, Ember released it in a short burst.

A ball of fire shot out of Ember's mouth, a bit smaller than Scarlet's as it soared through the void. However, before it got near one of the golems, it started to descend and fell into the void a few feet away from them. Ember's eyes went wide, a blank expression on her face as she felt some blood rushing to her cheeks due to her rather lackluster aim. Regardless, she still heard Scarlet give her a sincere clap.

"Not bad. Next time, though, try aiming a bit higher."

Ember looked back with a sheepish grin, nodding at Scarlet's words. Turning back, she took a deep breath again and started to let her fire build up in her chest. Shooting another fireball, this one arcing higher in the sky, Ember watched as it soared rather gracefully through the void...right over the golems.

Scarlet watched with a sigh. Somehow, she got the feeling they were going to be here awhile.

* * *

Scarlet estimated that around fifteen minutes had passed since Ember had first started shooting fireballs at the golems, and in that time not a single one had hit its mark. Either they would go flying over them, or they would come up just short. Despite all this, Ember was determined not to give up; despite the fact that it was clear she was running out of breath at this point. Scarlet was currently lying on the ground, head held in one paw, trying her best to stay awake. At one point, she could have sworn she heard the Chronicler yawn too.

Ember was starting to pant as she took a pause, trying to catch her breath as she held her head low. She looked back up towards the golems, who looked like they had bored expressions on their faces as well. A frown found its way onto her face when she saw that, her determination suddenly renewed. Taking a deep breath, Ember shot another fireball into the air.

As it soared through the sky, Ember bit her lip. Seeing the fireball the closest it had ever been so far to hitting one of the golems, she hoped and prayed that maybe this time it would actually hit its mark. A small explosion was heard as a slight flash of light exploded in the void. Scarlet looked up to see one of the golems was on fire. Eyes wide, she looked down towards Ember, who had a huge smile on her face.

 _"Well done, Ember,"_ the Chronicler cut in. _"It would seem you've gotten the hang of breathing fireballs. As such, I don't think we need to have you do it again at this point in time."_

Ember frowned as she held her head low, the second golem disappearing in a flash of light. Despite the kind tone in his voice, she knew the real reason the Chronicler had got rid of the golem. Feeling a paw placed on her shoulder, she looked up to see Scarlet giving her a soft smile.

"Hey, it's okay. You got the basics down. You just need to practice aiming a bit more."

Despite the attempt at cheering her up, Ember still felt a bit depressed at her poor performance. She didn't have time to dell on it, though, as several platforms floated by to where the two dragonesses were, forming a path to the next pillar of light. The trip was short, and they reached the next pillar in no time. There was another pool at its base. The duo walked over to it as once again images started to come into view.

_"W-what's going on, anyway!? What do you plan on doing to me!?"_

_"Hmm... I suppose I should humor you a bit before you spend eternity experiencing the agony you put me through."_

Once again, the scene showed Spyro and the deformed Sorceress in the arena, and once again Scarlet looked on in utter confusion. This time, Ember seemed rather confused as well. It felt familiar to her, yet at the same time it still felt like a blur. Was this finally the information she was desperately trying to remember?

_"Tell me, Spyro, you do know about other realms, right?"_

_"Well, duh! I've been to most of the other realms!"_

_"Well, dragon, did you know there are worlds beyond the realms we know? Worlds where alternate versions of us exist... Some rather similar to our world, others vastly different."_

To this, both Scarlet and Ember looked up and at each other. Though the line seemed vague, from that alone they were starting to get an idea of what might be going on. A silence quickly followed, as the two looked back at the pool and watched the scene unfold. The Sorceress explained about other worlds, about the rebound effect if the teleportation spell for them was performed incorrectly, and the danger it could pose if a soul extraction spell was performed at the same time.

A growl escaped Scarlet's lips as she looked at the Sorceress standing triumphantly over a terrified Spyro. Not once had she ever thought she would see Spyro scared, let alone in such a hopeless situation.

"What a monster!" she said, glare firmly fixated on the Sorceress. "That... I don't know what's more cruel! Deadlock stealing the eggs, or this _hag_ for trying to make Spyro spend eternity without a body! Ooo, whoever this _witch_ is, she better hope she doesn't have to cross my—!"

Despite her anger, Scarlet stopped her ranting when she noticed Ember blankly staring into the pool next to her.

It was all finally starting to come back. The gap between when she was tied up and when she was hit with that wave of magic. The Sorceress charging up both of those horrid spells, her futile attempt to stop them by distracting Ripto and Gnasty Gnorc, the rebound of magical energy... It was all finally starting to make sense.

"Mr. Chronicler...?" Ember said, looking up at the sky. "I think I finally understand what's going on."

The Chronicler paused at how timidly she had said that, almost like she didn't want to believe it herself. Regardless, there was no denying the obvious truth. _"Indeed... It would seem you have. This world is not your own. The Ember you both see in front of you is one from an alternate reality."_

Despite already figuring it out, what the Chronicler had said still hit Scarlet like a ton of bricks. This was all still so much to take in, and so soon after the disaster with Deadlock stealing the eggs. However confused she might have been, she was taken out of her train of thought when she saw Ember looking up with worry.

"D-does that mean Spyro... _My_ Spyro is...?"

A long paused followed after Ember's trembling words, the Chronicler having a hard time trying to find the words to reply. _"I am afraid so. Even with your attempts to intervene, it would seem the one who you call 'The Sorceress' managed to succeed in her plan."_

Ember's face was blank for a few seconds before it crumpled in despair. Hot tears welling up in her eyes, Ember grasped her necklace as she hunched over.

"No..." she muttered. It was the only thing she could manage to say in response now that her worst fear was realized. "No, no, no, no, _no!_ "

Scarlet looked on as Ember wept, and her eyes drooped as she frowned. She couldn't even begin to imagine how she would feel if something like that had happened to her Spyro, and this Ember was still a child by dragon standards. Losing someone she cared about so much at such a young age...

Scarlet placed her paw on Ember's shoulder, and she looked up into Scarlet's caring face. Embracing the older dragoness' in a hug, Ember sobbed softly into her chest. Scarlet returned the hug in an attempt to ease her pain.

_"Ember... Please, do not be sad."_

"Why shouldn't I!? Spyro... He's—he's worse than dead now!" Ember said as she looked back at the sky.

The shaky and distraught tone in her voice caused the Chronicler to pause before he let out a lone sigh. _"Because, there might still be a way to save him."_

Ember's eyes lit up as she heard the Chronicler's words, mouth falling open as she let go of Scarlet and ran forward, looking up at the sky with renewed hope.

"What!? Really!? How!?" she asked, a newfound determination in her voice.

The Chronicler took a long pause as a heavy air started filling the void.

 _"I will not lie, Ember. Part of me was debating whether or not I should have told you. You are still young and still have much to learn. What we've covered today was only the very basics of fire,"_ the Chronicler said, his voice taking a very serious tone. _"However, Spyro and Cynder will need this world's Ember if they have any hope of retrieving the eggs. I might be able to send you back to your world without Spyro in time... But if you are dead set on returning with your world's Spyro, you must be warned. The journey to save him will be a long and perilous one... Knowing this, do you still wish to embark on it?"_

Ember stood silent at the Chronicler's words as she let them sink in. She felt intimidated by them. The furthest she had been away from her home was the recent trip to the Artisan Realm, so the thought of going on a long and perilous journey felt overwhelming.

And yet, at the same time, she felt a growing excitement the more she thought about it. Growing up in her world, she had always been a sheltered child. Her mother had tended to smother her a bit more than she should have, and she was rarely ever allowed to go further than the very outskirts of Dragon Village without her. It had taken her forever to convince her mother to let her go to the Artisan Realm, and even then she'd wanted her uncle to keep a close eye on her.

The thought of finally being on her own, going on a journey all by herself with no one closely watching her, being able to see new sights beyond Dragon Village, and experiencing once-in-a-lifetime events that not even the most adventurous of explorers would have the luck of seeing… And all the while she would be saving her idol, who might even be grateful enough to finally accept her as his special someone.

A sudden, confident smile appeared on Ember's face.

"Yes, of course! I can't just leave my Spyro to suffer like that, after all!"

The Chronicler was surprised by the sudden burst of confidence and excitement in Ember's voice. After all he had witnessed in the void, he hadn't been sure if she would even consider it. Part of him had hoped she wouldn't. She was only around Spyro's age when he had been dragged into the war against the Dark Master. There had been multiple hardships he had gone through, and he had barely made it out alive several times. Spyro hadn't had a choice in the matter, but Ember did, and that was what made the Chronicler debate even telling her in the first place.

Regardless, looking at her now beaming with confidence, he doubted he could change her mind. _"Very well, then. I want you travel to the White Isle. It is where I am located, and where Spyro and Cynder are currently heading. There is a nearby ocean not far off from the temple. If you head there and fly over it, you should be able to find my island shortly after."_

Ember nodded, the confident smile still holding strong as she started to shake with excitement.

 _"Oh, and Scarlet,"_ the Chronicler continued, catching the older dragoness' attention. _"I want you to continue to guide Ember while she is in our world. Now that she is aware of you, you should be able to talk to her while she's in the waking world. You can use one of the pools of visions in this void to see what she sees."_

Scarlet nodded, turning to look at Ember with a sly grin on her face. "Just be careful while you're in my body. Don't do anything I wouldn't, now."

She giggled as she walked over to the pool. Ember couldn't help but giggle at the comment as well, smiling at the remark. Not long after, she was taken off guard when her body started to feel lighter all of a sudden as a soft light started to envelop her. Her body starting to become transparent, she looked up to see Scarlet waving to her.

In her final seconds in the void, she heard the faint words of the Chronicler as everything started to fade around her. _"Remember this, Ember. Though these worlds and the beings in them may not be your own, you are never truly alone..."_

* * *

_"Alternate universe—what!?" Hunter exclaimed, his mouth agape as he and the others gathered around Bianca._

_The rabbit's eyes drooped as she looked down to the ground, as if not wanting to believe her own words._ _"Alternate universe travel. Normally, the spell is supposed to be used to travel to other realms without the use of a portal. However, when it was amplified by the Professor's long range portal technology, the magic became so great that it managed to breach the gap between our world and another."_

_"Wait, wait, wait! I'm confused!" Agent 9 said, scratching his head. "What's the big deal? All we need to do is find what realm those idiots sent them to and use a portal to go there!"_

_"Alternate universe travel is different from travelling to another realm," Bianca stated flatly, her glare firmly on the monkey for his lack of understanding._

_"How so?" Shelia asked, raising an eyebrow as she was just as confused as everyone else._

_Noticing that the group didn't have the most firm grasp on the concept, Bianca knew she was going to have to explain quite a few things._

_"Well, let me put it this way," Bianca said, putting her hand on her chin as she tried to think of the simplest way to put it. "The main difference is that a realm is part of our world. Despite needing a portal to reach it, it still exists somewhere in our plane of existence," she explained, keeping an eye on the group's expressions to make sure she wasn't losing them. Noticing how they mostly seemed to get that, she continued._

_"An alternate universe, however, is a world completely separate from ours. Some of them may be similar to ours, maybe even have alternate versions of ourselves, and some may even be radically different. The main point, however, is that without the use of extremely powerful magic to bridge the gap, it's almost impossible to get to because it's not part of our plane of existence."_

_Bianca looked at the group as they looked at each other with worry. The weight Bianca's words hit the group with was like a ton of bricks. None of them wanted to accept the possible truth behind them._

_Finally, Sgt. Byrd waddled forward, a glint of determination in his eyes as he looked up at Bianca._ _"Is there any chance we can open up a portal to these alternate universes through a similar method?"_

_"Even if we could, it wouldn't be that simple, James," Bianca said, placing her right hand on her forehead. "From that blast, I'm guessing what happened was they were trying to invoke a rebound effect. My shield managed to protect us from it, but those who were unshielded were likely sent to an alternate universe at random. If it was a set location, then it would be a different story, as the teleportation would have left a trail of magical energy we could follow."_

_"However, since it was a rebound, there's almost no chance of tracking them down because the massive magical blast would have wiped clean any trail of magic that they would have left."_

_A silence fell over the group, most of them looking down in defeat as the reality of Bianca's words started to sink in. However, while the others started to realize the hopelessness of the situation, Bianca's words only seemed to make Hunter more determined._

_"So? You said 'almost' impossible. That doesn't mean it is!" Hunter said, crossing his arms. "If we can't find where they were sent to, we'll just start opening up portals to these alternate universes at random! They have to be in one, after all!" he exclaimed, determination in his eyes as he looked back at the group._

_Bianca sighed as she looked away._ _"It's not that simple, Hunter. There are millions upon millions of alternate universes. Trying to find them without anything to go on would take a lifetime, if even that."_

_"That doesn't mean we shouldn't try, though!" Hunter said as he looked back at Bianca. "Spyro has helped us all before when we were in trouble. We can't just give up on him now that he needs ours!"_

_Bentley was the first to step up, a look of hope on his face._ _"Indeed. If it wasn't for Spyro, the Sorceress and her acquaintances would still be running around the Forgotten Realms, and we would still be locked up in those cramped cages."_

_"Right! We all owe Spyro a lot, so now it's time to return the favor!" Shelia said, hopping forward with new determination._

_Grinning as the rest of the group started to speak up in agreement, Hunter turned to Bianca. "Well, babe?"_

_Bianca put her hand to her chin, deep in thought as she contemplated the group's point. "Even if we do, it would still require a lot of magic. Especially with the Professor's long range teleportation equipment destroyed in the blast."_

_Hunter smirked. "Well, we're in the Magic Crafter's realm, after all! Besides, I'm sure the Professor can fix this. He's fixed worse, after all!"_

_"Yeah! You should have seen him when I accidentally blew up his super computer! The mole had it running again in under three hours!" Agent 9 exclaimed, though he quickly turned away while scratching his head. "Boy was he not happy with me afterwards, though. Took away Mr. Laser Blaster for a week for that..."_

_Hunter tuned out Agent 9's rambling as he turned to rush towards the hall, determination building up inside him as he was currently on a roll in bringing up the group's morale._

_"I'll go get him and bring him here. In the meantime, try to get some of the Magic Crafters to help us," he said, turning back for a second before he charged off._

_Watching Hunter run off, Bianca sighed before a soft smile appeared on her face. Hunter could be rather cute when he was determined about something, but this was neither the time nor place to dwell on the subject. Walking with the rest of the group, she was stopped when Bentley tapped her on the shoulder, a concerned look on his face._

_"Far be it from me to delay things when one of our pals is in trouble, but what about those apes from another world? Surely it's not a good idea to leave them unattended to..."_

_Bianca paused as she put her hand to her chin. "My ice spell should keep them frozen for a good while now, but sooner or later they will thaw. We might also want to get some of the Peace Keepers here to escort them to the nearest jail while they still won't be a problem."_

_Hearing Bianca's words, Agent 9's eyes started to sparkle. The monkey jumped forward onto Bentley's head, startling the yeti._ _"Leave that to me! I'll round up the best dragons in the realm to deal with them! They won't have any idea what hit them!"_

_Agent 9 jumped off Bentley's head and charged off down the hall before anyone could get a word in._

_Shaking his head in annoyance, Sgt. Byrd walked over to Bianca and Bentley. "Do not fear. I'll keep an eye on him. Call it a hunch, but I get the feeling I would be better at picking recruits than he would."_

_Flapping his wings and flying off after the hyperactive agent, Sgt. Byrd was the next to leave the area. Shaking her head, Bianca watched as Bentley and Shelia soon followed. Figuring she shouldn't waste any time either, she followed suit. As she reached the exit, she looked back one more time at the room and the horrid device that had caused this whole mess._

_'Spyro... Wherever you are, I hope you're alright.'_

* * *

_"Ember, please be okay... Please be okay..."_

_"Shhh. I think she's coming to."_

Ember groaned as she opened her eyes. A bright light welcomed her and forced her to close them again with a wince of pain. Holding her paw over her head to block it out a little, she looked up to see her mother standing over her. Relief flooded her worried face as she brought her head down and gently hugged her daughter.

"Ember... Thank the ancestors you're alright..."

Ember hugged her back, looking around as she did. The three guardians were standing around her, and she appeared to still be in the temple. From what she could guess, she was in a guest room somewhere in the temple.

Terrador was the first to step forward and, despite his rather intimidating figure, managed to give a rather comforting look. "You gave us quite the scare there, Ember."

"Indeed, the sudden fainting combined with this mysterious memory loss had us quite concerned. I was suspecting that maybe it could have been—"

"Yes, Volteer. It was quite the coincidence," Cyril interrupted the rambling dragon before he could really get going, and turned back to Ember. "Now then, Ember. How are you feeling?"

Ember paused, her mother finally letting her go as she got onto her feet. Noticing she was once again in the older dragoness' body, or rather the 'other Ember's' body, she struggled to right herself. Still a bit dizzy, she shook it off before she turned to the four adult dragons around her. "I'm fine. In fact, I finally figured out why my memories are so different from what everyone else remembers."

The four dragons looked at each other in confusion before they looked back at her. Ember wasn't fond of suddenly being the center of attention. She knew she had a lot of explaining to do...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone. Sorry this chapter took so long. Would you believe that when I started it, I only intended Ember's training to go on for about 2,000 words at most? Yeah... Now I know why most fics that have Ember in it usually have her already well trained in combat. XD; /shot
> 
> Still, I found it nice a change to have the protagonist somewhat struggling in their training instead of getting the hang of it rather quickly. I do plan on explaining why Ember was having such a hard time using her fire element in the first place in the next chapter, as well as learning a bit more about fire elemental abilities. Though, I promise next time it won't end up taking up the whole chapter. :P
> 
> Anyways, we're getting close to the end of the 'New Dawn' arc. I'm hopeful that the next part will end it, but if not, then it should be a four parter at the very most. While we're on that subject, I also have an announcement about the 'visiting other fic worlds' gimmick of the fic. Though it's still going to be the main feature of the fic, I might also have to make some original 'filler' worlds myself. Reason being is, a part from the fact that a lot of Spyro fics on FF.N will take me a while to read through and understand properly, it would also grant me a bit more leeway when it comes to major plot points I have in mind, and allow for a bit more character development potential on Ember's part.
> 
> As always though, if you have any suggestions for fic worlds you would like visited, feel free to leave a suggestion on either the Forum or in a review. If you enjoy, also feel free to leave a review. It really helps me out when it comes to writing this fic.
> 
> But will Ember be able to catch up with Spyro and Cynder? How will she fare on her own in the meantime? And why exactly is Cynder so angry at Ember? Find out next time!


	5. A New Dawn pt 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, Chapter beta-read by Riverstyxx on FF.N. Further comments on the chapter below.

The entire room went uncomfortably silent as Ember finished her story. She felt awkward and out of place with all eyes on her. Had it not been for what had just happened, she wouldn't have fully believed it either, what with the whole 'being a different Ember from an entirely different world inhabiting the body of this world's Ember' story. Regardless, she didn't have much of a choice but to tell the others, as it was the only lead she had.

A look of confusion and disbelief on his face, Cyril was the first to speak up. "That's...quite the story, Ember."

The lack of belief in his voice didn't exactly put Ember at ease. She looked up at Terrador, who had a neutral expression on his face. "Indeed. If it wasn't for the fact that you were contacted by the Chronicler himself, I would have a hard time believing it myself."

Ember gazed at him hopefully, smiling meekly. "So, you believe me?"

Terrador shook his head, as if appearing deep in thought. With a sigh, he opened his eyes. "I will admit; it's quite the story. Though, it's clear you were indeed contacted by the Chronicler. Whether or not this 'alternate world' scenario is real, if you were summoned by him, then you should heed his call as quickly as possible."

"I have to say, the possibility of alternate universes does sound quite intriguing. Imagine, in any number of universes there could be countless different versions of ourselves, some of them maybe possessing abilities or knowledge we ourselves are not aware of. Why, it might be worth looking into once everything settles down again. I would quite like to meet any and all alternate versions of my—"

"Yes, yes, Volteer. While I do like the idea of getting to meet alternate versions of myself, if what Ember says is true, there can be rather dire consequences if performed incorrectly. We should probably leave it well enough alone," Cyril said, giving Volteer a stern glare. In actuality, though he did like the idea of getting to see other versions of himself, the idea of tons of alternate versions of Volteer terrified him greatly. One Volteer was _quite_ enough.

Ember giggled. Though she had only been there a short time, those two guardians had made her laugh by being themselves more in a few days than she had in the past year. The light-hearted moment was quickly cut short as she noticed her mother, or rather Scarlet's mother, hanging back a bit. A rather sheepish look on her face, Ember walked over to her.

"Um... I'm sorry about taking control over your daughter's body..."

Despite her worry, Ember was surprised when her mother gave a soft and caring look, bending down and giving her a hug. "It's alright, dear. Regardless of whether you're from another world or not, you're still my daughter nonetheless."

Ember gave a soft smile as she closed her eyes, returning the hug. She was right. Despite being from different worlds, this was still the mother she knew and loved.

Though the scene was rather touching, Terrador knew he had to step forward and cut it short. "Now then, Ember. You should make your way towards the White Isle post haste. If you hurry, you might be able to catch up with Spyro and Cynder."

Ember's mother was forced to let go of her daughter due to the urgency behind Terrador's words, and she looked down at Ember with a serious expression. "Ember, it might be best if I go with you. From what you said, you're still learning when it comes to fire. Who knows what kinds of dangers you might have to face out there..."

Shaking her head, Ember looked at her mother with sad eyes, knowing she was concerned for her safety. Ember could see it in her eyes, the worry that something might happen to her. Even back in her own world, they were the same eyes her mother always had. Yes, she did tend to smother her a bit, but in the end Ember knew she always meant well. However, despite how scared she was about what might lie ahead of her, Ember knew she couldn't always rely on her mother to help her.

"I'm sorry, Mom, but this is something I have to do on my own."

The look of determination on Ember's face surprised her mother, her eyes wide in confusion as she stood silent for a few seconds. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and opened them. With a soft look, she nodded. "Alright. I understand. As much as I want to go with you to make sure you're safe, I know I can't always be there for you."

Ember smiled, though it was more of a bittersweet feeling to hear her mother speak those words. "Thanks, Mom."

A silence soon fell upon in the room, as everyone knew that the time had come, yet no one wanted to speak it. Finally, with a heavy heart, Ember was the one to break it. "Well, I guess I better get going..."

"Ember, wait."

Ember was about to turn and leave before Terrador spoke up. "Before you go, I have something for you."

Reaching behind him, he pulled out a bag and set it down next to Ember. Curious, she opened it to see a collection of small red and green gems. She looked back up to the Earth Guardian in confusion, and he continued.

"They're spirit gems. They're a gift left by our ancestors, so to speak," Terrador said, lifting one out of the bag. "In essence, they are the life-force of all dragons. Smashing the red ones will soothe any wounds you've taken in battle, while green ones will restore your energy so you can perform fire attacks with more frequency and ease."

As he finished, he smashed the red gem on the ground. Ember watched in amazement as several shards of the shattered gem flew into the air and into Terrador, causing his scales to glow pale red for a time as the gems disappeared.

With a wide grin, Ember clutched the bag tightly. "Thank you, Mr. Terrador!"

"Think nothing of it, young one," he replied, a smile on his face. "Now then, I think it's time for your adventure to begin."

With a nod, Ember headed to the door while holding the bag of spirit gems in her maw. Setting it down, she turned back for a second to look back at the group, a soft smile on her face. "Everyone... Thank you. Thank you for everything."

Getting one final look at the group of smiling dragons, Ember picked up the bag and darted off. Unaware of what might lie ahead of her, she knew she was in this for the long run.

Once she was sure her daughter was out of earshot, Ember's mother sighed, a tear rolling down her cheek as her muzzle pulled into a nostalgic smile.

* * *

It wasn't long before Ember found her way outside the temple and to a nearby stream. The bag of spirit gems still in her maw, she looked at the forest ahead of her. Now that it occurred to her, she started to realize how daunting her task was. She didn't know exactly where this 'White Isle' was, but she remembered seeing Spyro and Cynder flying in this direction when they'd left earlier, and she had remembered hearing something about how streams would usually lead to lakes or the ocean. It didn't take much for her to realize that following the stream would likely lead her in the general direction it was.

However, the darkness caused by the massive trees of the forest, accompanied by the alien sounds emanating from it, didn't exactly make her want to hurry on with that plan.

Stopping by the forest edge, she set her bag of spirit gems down and took a good look at what she was in for. Giving a gulp as her eyes went wide, Ember paused. Taking a deep breath to compose herself, she closed her eyes.

_'Come on Ember... This is for Spyro. You can do this, you can do this...'_

Opening her eyes, she focused with a renewed sense of determination. Looking back down at the bag of spirit gems, she was starting to feel that it wasn't a good idea to just carry them around in the open. Pausing as she rubbed her chin, Ember glanced down at the necklace around her neck.

_'I wonder...'_

With a touch, her necklace started to glow. Focusing her attention on the bag, it started to glow a soft pink. Turning into a ball of energy, the bag floated up, twirled around Ember for a few seconds before finally being absorbed by the necklace. Ember smiled.

_'Well, nice to know that still works.'_

_'Whoa! Since when can my necklace do that!?'_

Hearing the sudden voice coming out of nowhere, Ember let out a tiny 'eek!' and stumbled back, toppling over herself.

_'Aw, don't tell me you forgot about me already? I'm hurt.'_

Ember picked herself up, shaking her head as she heard a faint giggle. Looking around, she tried to figure out where the voice was coming from. It was then she looked down at her necklace, a sheepish grin on her face as the realization hit her. "Scarlet? Is that you?"

_'Yep. I'm here.'_

Ember smiled. At least she knew that, despite Scarlet not being there like in that dream world, she wasn't going to have to do this alone. Though she couldn't see her, she could somehow sense that Scarlet was smiling too. Looking back at the forest with renewed confidence, Ember slowly but surely made her way in.

As if looking in on it from the outside wasn't intimidating enough, the inside only made Ember feel more uneasy. Despite sunlight occasionally poking in through the canopy, the dark shadows cast by the trees and the undergrowth made it a little hard to see. Alien sounds continued to increase in volume; the animals of the forest all around her. Though for the most part they were minding their own business, it did little to comfort Ember.

Sensing her worry, Scarlet thought it best to strike up a conversation to get her mind off it. _'So... How did you do that, anyway? My necklace never did that before.'_

Making sure to stick close to the stream, Ember glanced down to her necklace.

"It was a gift from my father. He gave it to me on my fifth birthday," she explained, looking back up to keep a better eye on where she was going. "It was a special necklace he got for me. They were quite popular at the time, being enchanted with a magical spell so it can double as a pouch to hold things without having to carry a giant sack around. Needless to say, it cost a lot of gems, but he said it was worth it when he saw the beaming smile on my face when he gave it to me."

Ember chuckled as she shook her head. "To this day, it's still one of my most treasured belongings."

Though the initial nostalgic memory had managed to put her in a somewhat better mood, the sudden silence from Scarlet as she finished her explanation started to make her worry. Just as she was about to ask if she was alright, Scarlet spoke up. _'My father also got me this necklace on my fifth birthday. It was...the last time me and my mom heard from him.'_

Ember stopped in her tracks. She looked down at the necklace sadly. "Oh. I'm...I'm sorry," she murmured, putting her paw on the necklace.

 _'It's alright.'_ Despite her words, Ember could still hear the sadness in Scarlet's voice. _'Your world is different from mine. You didn't know.'_

Ember paused for a few seconds, lowering her head in thought. Though there were many things that were different in this world than her own, it had never crossed her mind that something could have happened to one of her parents. The more she thought about it, though, the more she noticed how odd it was that her father was nowhere to be found despite her mother being there. She closed her eyes. Knowing that, back in her homeworld, her father was okay managed to dull the shock a bit. She couldn't even begin to imagine what it must have been like to lose him, especially when she was only five.

_'Ember.'_

Ember was knocked from her train of thought when Scarlet spoke up, looking back down at the necklace.

_'What... What was our father like?'_

Ember paused, momentarily confused. "Excuse me for asking, but didn't you at least get to know him before...you know?"

_'Not really. When I was still really young, he left to go fight in the war. I only really got to know about him through the notes he sent and what my mother told me.'_

Ember went silent again, placing a paw in front of her mouth. There was a war in this world that involved dragons? How? From what she knew of from her world, despite their appearance, her species was mostly a peaceful one that never got involved in any major wars. The only time she knew of a dragon participating in war was when Spyro had got involved in the hostilities between Zephyr and BreezeHarbor, and even then it had been because he hadn't realized what was going on until he had already assisted the Breeze Builders in starting their counterattack.

Though the question of 'how did that happen?' was burning in her head, Ember knew that now wasn't the most appropriate time to ask. She would have to bring it up later when Scarlet wasn't as sad about having the topic of her dad brought up. For now, it would likely be best for her to answer Scarlet's question. Tilting her head back, she began to think.

"He was a very kind dragon. He was treated me with a lot of care," Ember said as she began to recall memories of her father. "He used to call me his 'little princess'. I remember one night when I was sick and couldn't get to sleep, he stayed up all night with me to make sure I was okay."

Scarlet was silent for a few seconds before finally speaking up again, her voice a bit timid. _'He sounds like a great dragon.'_

"Yeah, he is. I'm lucky to have him as my dad," Ember said, looking down with a nostalgic smile. Feeling a tear fall down her cheek, Ember sighed. It hadn't really occurred to her until they'd started talking about their father, but now that it was brought up she began to feel rather homesick. How long would it be before she would get to see them again? Her own family from her own world?

She shook her head. This was no time to think about that. Spyro needed her help, so she couldn't afford to go soft already.

"I'll tell you more about him later, Scarlet. We have to catch up with the others right now," Ember said, trying her best to sound convincing as she continued onward. Despite this, the shakiness in her voice made it apparent that she was worried that, if the conversation continued, she would want to return home before she could help her hero.

Several minutes passed as Ember stuck close to the stream, picking up the pace considerably to make up for the time lost earlier. As she did, she began to hear a faint grumbling in the distance. As she got closer, she could barely make out a voice, sounding irritable as it grumbled to itself.

"Gah! I can't believe I got left behind again!"

Ember paused, finally able to make out the words it was saying. Knowing that it wasn't far off, natural curiosity took hold of Ember as she walked over to the nearby bushes.

Pushing past them, Ember saw an odd creature standing there, his face drooping as his arms hung by his sides. It had the appearance of a snake, but was standing upright on its tail. It was clothed in leather armor and had a wooden club resting on its back. Just as Ember started to really get a good look at the creature, Scarlet gasped.

_'A naga! Ember! Quick! Get down! Get down!'_

The sudden urgency in Scarlet's voice caused Ember to jump a bit, eyes wide with worry as she quickly followed her command. The naga glanced over at the rustling bushes, his sudden glare causing Ember to gulp. Luckily for her, the rather dopey-looking beast was quick to turn away with an irritated groan.

"Seriously, this is like the third time this has happened to me!" he said, unaware of Ember's presence.

Ember shook a bit in worry, the intimidating stature of the beast unlike anything she had seen in her world.

"Scarlet," she whispered, trying her best to go unnoticed, "what is that thing?"

 _'It's called a naga. One of Deadlock's army,'_ she said, a heavy amount of disdain in her voice. _'They were the monsters that raided the temple a few days ago and stole the eggs.'_

The naga crossed his arms, growling as he scowled. "Okay, I may not be the brightest of the bunch, but come on!" He slumped down again with a sigh, face drooping in defeat.

Ember raised an eyebrow, her fear starting to subside the more this naga-thing talked to itself. "Well... What should we do?"

Scarlet went silent in thought. It might not be the best idea to let one of Deadlock's members roam around the Dragon Realms like this. From his rather dull appearance and how he talked to himself out loud, it seemed competence wasn't one of his strong suits, either. Had it been her in her body right now, she likely would have tried to fight it, maybe get some info that might help them in their journey...

However, she wasn't in her body right now. Ember was, and from what she'd observed in the void, it would seem Ember had never really had to fight before with how underdeveloped her powers were. Even having learned some basic fire abilities, could this kid in a young-adult's body actually fight this thing?

Scarlet shook her head. It was too much of a risk to take. _'Let's just back away for now, Ember. Right now we really need to catch up with Spyro and Cynder.'_

Ember nodded, feeling a wave of relief wash over her, knowing she wasn't going to have to fight this thing. With a sigh, Ember slowly began to turn her head and walk away.

"The only good thing is I found this little beauty."

Ember couldn't help but look back when the naga uttered that sentence, and she got a good look at what it was holding.

There in its hands was the gem the Sorceress had used to cast that spell.

The naga grinned stupidly as he looked at the shard, holding it up to the sun to get a better view.

"No idea what it is, but it doesn't look like a spirit gem," he said, his grin getting wider as he brought it down closer to him. "Heh, if this thing is an actual gem, it might fetch a pretty penny back home."

Ember watched on with worry as she found herself faced with a new dilemma. Sensing her sudden uneasiness, Scarlet spoke up. _'Ember? What's wrong?'_

"That gem!" Ember whispered forcefully, glancing down at her necklace. "That was the gem the Sorceress used to start this whole mess!"

Looking back at the naga, Ember tensed up. It was still unaware she was there as it looked at the gem in glee. Her mind raced as she wondered what she should do.

Scarlet spoke up. _'Hold on, Ember. How can you be sure that it's the same gem?'_

Ember shook her head as she looked back up at the gem it was holding. "I'm not entirely sure how I know, Scarlet. It just...feels like it is."

Scarlet was confused by Ember's words. It was like she had said, though. She wasn't sure how, but she could just feel like it was the same gem. Like how someone could sense the presence of a person without seeing them. Ember hunkered down, a determined look on her face. That gem could be some help with saving Spyro since it had been used to do this to him in the first place. It was too valuable to just pass up.

Sensing the sudden uneasiness in Ember, Scarlet knew she had to say something quick. _'Okay, even it is the same gem, what do you plan on doing? You've only just learned basic fire abilities! Are you sure you can actually take this thing on?'_

Scarlet's words ringing true, Ember took a brief pause before she let out a sigh. Her body loosened as a slightly defeated frown crinkled her face. Scarlet had a point. She had never had to fight before, so exactly how much of a chance did she stand against this thing? Yet, still, that gem was too important to just leave. Ember groaned, closing her eyes as she struggled to pick what the right course of action was.

 _'Come on, Ember! Think!'_ she thought to herself. Suddenly, an epiphany occurred to her.

_'What would Spyro do...?'_

* * *

_"Chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarge!"_

The naga raised an eyebrow at the sudden loud yell, looking behind him with a grunt. He barely had time to register the pink dragoness charging his way as the irises of his eyes shrank. With a mighty thwack, Ember jumped and hit him straight in the chest, causing him to fall backwards. Ember skidded to a stop, slightly dazed as she shook her head to regain her thoughts.

" _Ack_... Spyro makes it look a lot easier," she muttered, rubbing her sore head to make the pain subside. Hearing a groan, she looked to where she had sent the naga flying.

The snake creature grasped his head as he tried to steady himself, looking at the spot where he had been standing a few seconds ago.

"What the hell was that for!?" he yelled, swiping his hand in the air before he glared angrily in Ember's direction. It was then he got a good look at the dragoness.

The nervous feeling from earlier quickly started to return to Ember.

_'Well, you got his attention. Now what?'_

"I-I don't know! Normally when Spyro does that, they stay down..."

Scarlet sighed. This was why she had wanted to just ignore the beast. Now, however, it was too late. The naga looked on blankly for a few seconds before a devious grin appeared on his face.

"Hey! You're one of those dragons who was at the temple during the raid," he said, pulling the wooden club off his back and holding it in both hands. "I bet Deadlock would be thrilled if I brought you back. Heh, she might even promote me to head commander! That'll show those idiots for forgetting about me!"

As the naga inched menacingly forward, Ember started backing away. Her mind was racing as she tried to think of a way out of this.

_'Come on, Ember! Don't be afraid! Just stay calm!'_

"Easy for you to say!"

The naga raised an eyebrow in confusion, pausing a second at Ember's sudden outburst. "Who the hell are you talking to? Bah, not like it matters."

He charged forward and taking a swing at Ember with his club.

Acting on impulse, Ember barely dodged out of the way in time, the club coming down with a loud thud in the dirt. Turning around, she saw the naga raise the club again and charge at her. Ember ducked again, the club barely missing her head by inches. Not wasting any time, she dodged out of the way as he brought his club down again, managing to put some distance between them as she did.

_'Ember, dodging is only going to get you so far! You need to counterattack!'_

Ember gulped, body shaking as the naga struggled to free his club from the mound of dirt it had struck into. "How!? Charging it didn't really do much!"

_'Remember what you learned in the void! Horns and claws aren't your only way of attacking!'_

Ember paused before she jumped slightly as the realization hit her. _'Right! I can actually breathe fire now!'_

Taking a deep breath, Ember felt a familiar warm feeling in her chest. Shaping it into a ball, Ember arched her head backwards slightly before shooting fire at the snake creature. The naga barely glanced at the light in the corner of his eye as he tried to remove his club from the ground. Not a second later, his head jerked towards the direction of the fireball, eyes wide as his pupils shrunk and mouth agape as he temporarily forgot about removing his weapon from the ground. The naga closed his eyes as he covered his face with his arms, knowing that this was going to hurt.

However, all the snake-beast felt was slight warmth above his head as the fireball whizzed by and splashed into the nearby river.

The naga looked over at the splash that was caused by it before staring blankly at Ember. An awkward silence soon followed as Ember felt her cheeks starting to heat up in embarrassment. Chuckling slightly as a sheepish grin crossed her face, Ember could have sworn she heard Scarlet face-palm.

"And I thought _I_ was terrible at aiming," the naga muttered. With a mighty swing, he finally managed to free his club.

Not having a moment to lose, Ember jumped out of the way as the naga charged forward and took a swing at her. Not skipping a beat, Ember turned and shot another fireball at the naga, nearly tripping over herself as she did. The fireball missed the naga by inches, zooming past him and hitting the ground nearby in an explosion.

The naga laughed at Ember's lack of aim before he charged forward again. As he brought his club down, Ember just barely jumped backwards in time to avoid it, struggling to keep her balance.

Noticing the trouble Ember was having, Scarlet knew she had to speak up. _'Ember, fireballs may be more powerful, but they're not always more useful. Sometimes it's more worth it just to use basic flames.'_

Despite her attempt to sound like she was trying to help, Ember knew the _real_ reason why she suggested not using fireballs. She didn't have much time for rebuttal, though, as the naga was already on her again. Raising his club, he went to take a mighty strike at the dragoness. As if on pure instinct alone, Ember started to charge up a faint orange glow in the back of her throat. Just as the snake creature was about to bring his club down, Ember let loose a mighty wave of flames.

The blast caused the naga to stumble back, and Ember took a few deep breaths. Though it didn't burn her throat anymore, she still couldn't hold her flames too long before it took a lot of breath out of her. The naga growled as he lowered his arms from his face, glaring angrily at Ember. However, it was then he noticed a warm feeling near the hand that was holding his club.

Gasping in shock as he saw his club was alight with flames, the naga started to wave it around wildly in an attempt to put it out. As he started to run around to try to fan the flames out, Ember couldn't help but giggle at the ridiculous sight. Scarlet chuckled slightly as well, but she wasn't sure who was luckier. This naga for finding a dragoness who had just started learning the basics of combat, or Ember for finding what was quite possibly the most incompetent member of Deadlock's army.

Tossing the club aside, the naga glared angrily at the giggling dragoness.

"Oh, you thought that was funny, did ya!?" he said, voice seething with anger as he raised his fist and charged at Ember.

The sudden burst of giggling faded quickly as he closed in, and Ember ducked the punch and rolled away. Trying once again to hit the naga with a fireball, she groaned as it just barely grazed his arm and continued on its merry way. She didn't have much time to grimace, though, as the naga charged her again, managing to land a square blow right across Ember's face. The impact sent her stumbling back and toppling over herself, and tears of pain started to well up in her eyes.

"Aw, did I make the big bad dragon cry?" the naga mocked, crossing his arms as he started to laugh obnoxiously.

As tears streamed down her face, Ember lay on the ground and looked away. However, the more the naga continued to laugh, the more an angry frown started to creep onto her face.

_'Ember, it might be for the best to just leave. You're still new to all this, and if one punch—'_

Scarlet's attempts to reason with her fell on deaf ears, however, as Ember started to let out an angry growl, teeth bared and eyes shooting daggers at the snake-beast as he continued to make fun of her. Clenching her muscles, Ember let out a mighty roar as she jumped up and charged forward, slamming the naga square in the chest and sent him flying back into a tree.

Still growling, Ember started to charge up a fireball and sent it sailing at the beast. The naga barely had time to open his eyes as he looked on in horror, and this time the fireball finally hit its mark, nailing him square in the chest and engulfing him in an explosive fury of fire.

Ember stood panting heavily as she glared at the naga, fangs still bared. Scarlet was silent, unsure if she should say anything after the sudden violent outburst she had just witnessed. Finally, Ember looked down as she took a deep breath, muscles relaxing as she looked back up at her attacker.

The naga groaned, burn marks all over the front of his body and armor as he slowly pulled himself from the tree. Ember growled, taking a defensive stance as she stared down the snake-beast.

"Okay... I'll admit, I underestimated you," he said, panting heavily as he raised his fist, "but it ain't going to happen again."

The naga charged at Ember with a mighty right hook, but all he was met with was air as Ember ducked under it. Unleashing a wave of fire, Ember caused the naga to stumble back a bit. Not wasting any time, she charged forward headfirst. The naga barely saw it and managed to side-step in time, causing Ember to skid forward as she planted all four paws into the ground.

Looking back, Ember ducked her head down to avoid another swing, rolling out of the way and to the side. Spinning around to face the naga, she took a deep breath. The sudden outburst from her opponent's earlier taunting was starting to wear down, and as a result so was she. She knew she needed to end this quickly, but she wasn't sure how.

Just as she was trying to come up with a course of action, the naga charged again, holding his fist up high to hit Ember with a heavy punch. Ember ducked, but was quickly caught off guard when the naga did as well, bringing his other fist down as he went for an uppercut. The attack nailed Ember square in the chest and sent her rolling back into a tree.

The naga crossed his arms and grinned smugly at his handiwork, and Ember growled as she struggled to pick herself up. Maybe it was because of this body not being her own that she was able to handle the blow more easily, but she knew she likely couldn't take another hit like that.

 _'Come on, Ember. Remember what Spyro would do,'_ she thought, keeping an eye on the naga as he raised his fist again. _'I bet Spyro would have had some sort of move that would be able to stop this thing.'_

Rolling to the side as the naga charged at her to avoid another blow, Ember noticed the naga's helmet had been knocked off from one of her earlier attacks. If she could hit him hard enough on the head, there might be a chance she could knock this guy out.

 _'That's it!'_ she thought, jumping back to avoid another charge. Looking around at the forest, she looked for what was the closest nearby tree.

Ducking under an attack, Ember shot another wave of fire at the naga. The snake-beast stumbled back as he put his arms in front of his face to block the blast. Once it had subsided, the naga uncovered his face, but Ember was nowhere to be seen.

Looking around, the naga paused before scratching his head. "Where did she go?"

It was then he noticed a shadow racing his way. Looking up, he saw Ember jumping through the air, curling into a ball as she leapt. Once she uncurled, she came flying down headfirst and the naga realized what she was doing a little too late.

A loud clunking sound reverberated through the air as Ember's head crashed into the top of the naga's. With stars in her eyes, and the naga staring blankly, they just stood there for a few seconds, bodies unmoving. Finally, the naga slowly fell forward and Ember followed suit, hitting the ground face-first.

In the void, Scarlet finally moved her wing out from in front of her face. Looking on sheepishly as Ember got up in a daze, Scarlet really hoped she wouldn't have to feel the bump that was going to leave once she got her body back.

_'Um... Ember? Are you okay?'_

"Oh, what pretty stars,"Ember said in a daze, struggling to stand upright as she wobbled around on her legs _._ "Twinkle twinkle—"

_'Ember!'_

Ember shook her head, finally regaining her balance and train of thought. "Ow..." she muttered, rubbing her now aching head.

_'Where the heck did you learn such a crazy move? Scratch that, what made you think such a crazy move was a good idea?'_

Ember scratched her cheek sheepishly at Scarlet's rather harsh tone. "Well, Spyro, or rather, the Spyro of my world used to use that move on certain enemies he faced, so..."

Scarlet wasn't sure whether to laugh or sigh. She had a hard time imagining her Spyro ever pulling off such a crazy stunt like that, let alone herself. _'Well, if you can, please don't use that move if you don't have to. I would kind of like my body back in one piece, thank you.'_

"Don't worry, I don't plan on doing that again any time soon," Ember said in a dry tone, still rubbing her aching head. Looking back at the naga, Ember noticed his body was still unmoving. "Yikes... I hope I didn't hurt him too badly."

_'I'm sure he'll be fine. Spyro and Cynder probably did a lot worse to the nagas they fought on the night of the raid.'_

Ember sighed, gently grabbing her necklace as she looked up at the sky. Looking back down towards the naga, the realization finally hit her. "I-I did it," she muttered, a rush of accomplishment washing over her as she gave a sheepish smile. "I actually won."

_'Congrats. Your fighting style is still really rough, though. You left yourself open to a lot of attacks, mostly when you were charging. If it was a more elite one, things probably wouldn't have ended this way.'_

Despite Scarlet's words, Ember still felt a slight feeling of pride wash over her. After what had happened with Ripto and Gnasty, it was nice to know that, if she needed to, she could actually defend herself.

Walking over to the naga, Ember noticed the pouch it had tied to its belt. Opening it and rummaging around, Ember pulled out the crystal. The pale violet crystal shimmered in the sunlight, and Ember watched it in awe.

_"Thank you."_

Ember nearly dropped the crystal when she heard someone speak up, fumbling it in her paws before she got a good grip on it again.

"Huh? Who's there?" she asked, looking around for the source of the voice.

_'What? What are you talking about?'_

Ember glanced down at her necklace, face filled with confusion. "You mean you didn't hear that?"

_'Hear what?'_

Ember held the crystal up, staring at it mild curiosity. "It was weird. I could have sworn I heard someone say 'thank you' when I picked this up..."

Scarlet tilted her head in the void, watching as Ember absorbed the crystal into her necklace. _'Maybe you should use some of the spirit gems. That attack might have done more than you—'_ Scarlet's train of thought was quickly derailed as she gasped, noticing something out of the corner of her eye. _'Ember! The forest!'_

Ember jumped at Scarlet's sudden shout, spinning around as she looked for whatever had her so worried. It was then she saw the glowing light out of the corner of her eyes and jumped when she got a good look at it. Fire was starting to spread throughout the forest.

"Ah! Fire! The forest is on fire!" she yelled in a panic, eyes wide and mouth agape. "Wh—how did that happen!?"

_'It must have been when you were fighting the naga! Some of the embers from your fireballs must have caught on some of the plants and trees!'_

Ember frowned at Scarlet's words, guilt starting to well up inside her as the flames continued to spread. "W-what do we do!? We can't just leave it!" she exclaimed, her voice growing more and more desperate with every passing second.

 _'J-just stay calm! I'm sure we could... uh...!'_ Despite her attempt to calm Ember down, Scarlet was just as at a loss for what to do. They had nothing to carry water in, and the fire was already too out of control to use the water from the stream to put it out. She knew she had to think of something and fast, even though their options were limited. The only thing Ember really had at the moment was what caused this in the first place.

 _'Of course! I almost forgot!'_ Scarlet exclaimed, the sudden answer hitting her like a ton of bricks. _'We'll fight fire_ with _fire!'_

"What!? How is that supposed to work! We'll just end up making the fire bigger!"

_'Just trust me, Ember! Though I'm still new to being the Fire Guardian, I do know a lot about the element! Fire needs air to breath, just like living creatures. When two fires are together, the bigger one sucks up all the air and smothers the smaller one out.'_

Ember's face curled a bit as she listened to Scarlet's words, staring at the fire with eyes wide. "But, what about the second fire, though? If it's bigger, wouldn't that just cause a bigger problem?"

 _'Not if we're careful with it. This isn't perfect, and a good part of the forest will burn down, but at least it won't be as much compared to if we don't do anything!'_ Scarlet said, her voice having a sudden commanding tone to it. _'Just trust me and set fire to the areas I tell you to. I promise this will work.'_

Ember was still unsure of Scarlet's plan, but with the fire starting to spread more rapidly, she knew she had to do something. With a gulp, Ember quickly charged past the fire and waited for Scarlet's orders. The general plan was to set fire to areas that weren't as surrounded by plants, in hopes that the fire wouldn't spread.

Ember was quick on her feet, darting to each area as quick as she could. In short plains where they knew the fire wouldn't spread to the nearby trees, Ember would set up a small path of flames in a curvature motion around the main fire. It was exhausting work, and Ember was already breathing heavily due to having to keep moving and breathing fire in rapid succession, but she knew she couldn't stop to rest without risking all she'd done turning into an even bigger fire.

There was quite the glow coming from the general area as the fire raged on, but slowly and surely the plan seemed to be working as the main fire started to die out. It still took a while, and Ember still had to make adjustments at Scarlet's orders to make sure things didn't get out of control again, but after a while all that was left were small embers from burning overturned logs.

Ember stood in the now burnt area of the forest, panting heavily as she struggled to stand. Looking up and around, she took in the large blackened area of the forest. Eyes drooping, Ember sighed and let her head fall as she plopped to the ground.

"Oh god..." she muttered, closing her eyes as she grasped her head. "What have I done...?"

Ember started to feel tears well up at the destruction she had unintentionally caused, laying her head on the ground while holding her paws to her forehead. Scarlet was silent. From the void she was watching in, she felt a feeling of guilt starting to creep over her as well.

_'It's not your fault, Ember.'_

"Yes it is! It was my flames that set the forest on fire in the first place!"

Scarlet sighed. _'It's both our faults, then. As your temporary teacher, I should have told you how dangerous fire can be if you're not careful before anything else,'_ she said, looking back down at the pool. _'Especially after something similar happened to me...'_

Ember raised her head slightly as she listened to Scarlet's words. Scarlet shook her head before speaking up again. _'I'll tell you about it later. Right now, we can't dwell on this. We need to catch up with Spyro and Cynder.'_

Despite knowing the truth to her words, Ember found it hard to get up. It felt wrong to just leave this place like it was, especially since she was the one who had caused it. Regardless, with a sigh, Ember found whatever strength she had left and pulled herself up, walking over to the stream to continue her journey. Taking one last solemn look at the mess she had made, Ember started to follow the stream again with her head held low.

* * *

Spyro wasn't sure how long they had been flying, but it felt like it had been hours. There was only ocean as far as the eye could see, and he was beginning to wonder if they were on a wild goose chase. Sparx had already gotten tired and had taken to resting on Spyro's horns, while Cynder had been silent the entire time. It made Spyro uneasy with how eerily quiet she was being. He could only guess that it was because of what had been bugging her earlier. Despite her earlier insistence that she didn't want to talk about it, he felt like he needed to ask again.

"Cynder, are you okay?"

Cynder barely turned her head. "I'm fine. I can keep flying for however long it takes to get to this place."

Spyro shook his head as Cynder went back to focusing on flying. "That's not what I meant," he said flatly, flying up beside her to better carry the conversation.

Cynder turned her head away. "That again? I already told you, yes, it bugs me about what happened at the temple. You don't have to bring it up again."

Spyro could tell that there was more to it than what she had said earlier. "Cynder, I can tell there's still more you're not telling me. Please, Cynder. You know you can tell me anything."

Despite Spyro's words, Cynder stayed silent with her head turned away from him. On top of his head, Sparx yawned. "Give it up, bro. You'd have better luck taking on the Dark Master again than trying to get her to tell you what's eating at her."

Though Sparx's words had gotten an annoyed grunt out of the dragoness, that was all she was willing to say on the subject. Looking forward, Cynder narrowed her eyes. "How much longer until we're finally at the Chronicler's island?"

Spyro sighed. She was dodging the question again, but there wasn't much he could do about it. He could press the subject, but he was already exhausted from all the flying they had been doing. "I'm not sure. I really hope it's soon, though."

A silence followed as neither dragon said anything more. After a few seconds of silence, Sparx sat up and scratched his chin. "Hey, bro, try dropping down here."

"Huh?"

"Remember the last time?" Sparx asked, getting off his adopted brother's head and flying in front of him. "You were flying over the ocean when the Chronicler thought it'd be funny to zoink you out mid flight. You hit the water, and that's when that weird turtle thing showed up and took us to the Chronicler's place."

Spyro raised an eyebrow at Sparx's words. In a way, it made a bit of sense. What was the chancing of that thing showing up again, though? Still, it was their only lead, and Spyro was starting to get tired of flying after the time they'd spent searching for the island.

With a deep breath, Spyro slowly descended into the water. Landing softly, he floated on top of the surface for a few seconds, grateful to give his wings even a temporary break. Sparx flew down next to him as Cynder chose to hover in the air.

Several seconds passed, before Spyro looked at Sparx. "Nothing's happening."

"Give it a few seconds. That thing didn't show up right away."

A flat expression quickly found its way onto Spyro's face as he floated on the water's surface. If anything, all this was going to do was make it hard for him to get back into the air when he had to.

"Sparx, I seriously doubt that— _!_ "

Spyro was quickly cut off when a shadow appeared under him and something rose up to meet him. His paw touched something hard before he was picked up out of the water. Steadying himself, Spyro saw that he was now standing on the shell of a large turtle-like creature.

Sparx, who had been quick to fly away in terror as soon as he'd seen the shadow, flew back up to his brother and crossed his arms. "I'm sorry, you were saying?"

Spyro rolled his eyes. "Okay, I stand corrected."

Cynder's eyes went wide at the bizarre creature, but nevertheless she was quick to fly down towards the others, landing on the turtle's shell as it started to drift off over the sea. "This is... I can't believe this is actually real."

"See? Told you I was telling the truth. You guys really should listen to me more."

Both dragons rolled their eyes at Sparx's comment and the dragonfly crossed his arms, pouting at the gesture. Grateful to finally give their wings a rest, the dragons lay down as the giant creature drifted gracefully across the sea.

* * *

The air was cool as Ember made her way onto the beach. The sun was starting to set in the distance, and she felt the gentle sea breeze on her face. She closed her eyes, the serene feeling washing over her as she took a deep breath through her nose, the fresh smell of the ocean almost making her forget about the task at hand.

"It's so nice. Reminds me of when my parents took me to Dragon Shores when I was around six..." Ember trailed off, sitting down as she listened to the gentle waves of the ocean.

 _'No time for nostalgic memories now, Ember. Since the stream ends here, my guess is Spyro and Cynder flew out there,'_ Scarlet said, her voice getting less and less confident as she neared the end of her sentence.

Ember took one last deep breath before she got up, staring out at the ocean and the setting sun on the horizon. Looking around to see if there were any boats, she paused for a few seconds. Shrugging when she saw no one in the immediate area, Ember made her way towards the ocean, her paws kicking up splashes of water as her feet sank in the sand.

 _'W-wait! What are you doing!?'_ Scarlet said, the sudden panic in her voice causing Ember to screech to a halt.

Looking down at her necklace, Ember raised her eyebrow. "Well, I was going to try to swim after them seeing as there aren't any boats around."

_'Over an ocean!? Are you crazy!?'_

"Well, I can't fly, so... I don't really see any other choice, and Spyro needs me right now," Ember said, her face curling with embarrassment. _'Though, now that I say it, that_ does _sound pretty stupid...'_

Scarlet sighed. _'It's alright. I'm sorry I snapped there,'_ she said, her voice taking a softer tone. _'I-I never really grew up around water due to the war, so I never really learned how to swim. Plus, fire doesn't exactly work well in water, so...'_

"It's okay," Ember said as she sat down, the cool water lapping against her scales. A few seconds passed before Ember finally broke the silence. "Well, now what? I can't fly, and swimming is out of the question. Maybe I should look for someone with a boat?"

_'Yeah, about that. Why can't you fly?'_

The question caught Ember off guard. "Isn't that obvious?" she blurted out without thinking, her voice sounding blunter than she had intended. "I'm still too young. My wings aren't strong enough yet."

There was a short silence.

 _'Huh?'_ Scarlet finally said, the confusion in her voice apparent. _'I'm sorry, Ember, but that makes no sense.'_

Ember tilted her head, a bit surprised by Scarlet's words. "Why wouldn't it? I might be in your body, but— _!_ "

The realization of Scarlet's words hit her like a slap. She was in Scarlet's body, which was quite a few years older than hers. Looking back to her wings, she wondered.

With a jump, Ember got a few inches off the ground and started flapping her wings furiously. Though it managed to let her hover in place for a few seconds, she neither gained any altitude nor moved from her spot. With a thud, Ember landed on the ground on all fours, panting slightly at her failed attempt. Watching the display, it quickly became apparent to Scarlet what she was doing wrong.

_'Ember, you're completely ignoring the major thing about flying,'_

Ember looked down at her necklace, her eyebrow raised in both confusion and curiosity. Seeing this, Scarlet continued. _'Wing strength is only a very small part of flying. Like, not even a quarter of it is a part of flying. A lot of it, just like using your fire element, is spiritual.'_

"Spiritual?" Ember asked, her voice having an understandably curious tone to it.

Part of her was amazed by all she was learning from her brief time in this world. She had never even heard of half of all this in her world. As far she had known, spiritual power was just something she'd read about in stories when she was younger. She had no idea it was actually real, or that it could be applied to dragons as well.

_'Yes, spiritual. I'm surprised that you don't already know this. Has your world lost touch with its ancestors?'_

Ember tilted her head. _'Lost touch with the ancestors? What does that mean?'_

This world had been so confusing, and yet she had learned so much about her dragon abilities that she had never seen any other dragon pull off. The more she thought about it, though, the more she started to realize all the odd details of her world. If dragons could pull all this off normally, why did they need power-up gates in the first place? Why was it that Speedways were the only way young dragons could fly under their own power? On top of that, she could sort of remember seeing the older dragons having trouble flying, too.

"I... I guess so. I don't know. I don't remember hearing about any of this in my world," Ember finally said as she looked down to her necklace.

Scarlet was silent for a second. Their world really didn't remember the strides of their ancestors? How was that possible? Even growing up with her mother in hiding, the skills pioneered by the ancestors was one of the first few things she had learned about being a dragon. Though she felt some worry over what had become of Ember's world, she shook her head.

 _'Well, regardless, I think you're long overdue for this lesson. Flying is probably_ the _most basic of dragon abilities, right next to breathing one's element.'_

Ember listened to Scarlet's words, a smile slowly creeping its way onto her face as her eyes started to get a shine to them. Having a hard time sitting down as she tried to contain her excitement, her tail started to twitch back and forth.

_'Okay. First off, empty your mind,'_

Ember took a deep breath, closing her eyes. Though her excitement made it hard, she slowly started to tune out the world around her. Scarlet herself took a deep breath. She didn't fully remember what her mother had said to her when she was teaching her to fly, only the basic stuff, so she was hopeful it would be alright if she paraphrased it.

_'Imagine yourself in a dark void next to a spring that is currently being blocked.'_

Ember 'opened' her eyes, taking a look around the void and the spring. Despite the darkness, it glowed with a sparkling beauty as, at its end, it brushed up against a wall of darkness.

_'Now, think of all your troubles, and let them wash away in the river.'_

Ember paused, having to think for a second. Shortly after, images of what had happened before with Gnasty Gnorc, Ripto, and the Sorceress appeared in the river, followed by the image of Spyro in the void. Ember frowned, her eyelids drooping as she saw them flash by, the wall of darkness growing thicker. Scarlet sighed. This was going to be harder than she thought.

_'Hmm... Try imagining something happy standing next to you, something that will let your troubles wash away.'_

Ember paused, still frowning. With a nod, though, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, once again trying to block out the world around her. Several seconds passed, Ember's expression blank as she thought to herself before she finally opened her eyes.

Ember jolted a bit in surprise as in front of her stood Spyro. _Her_ Spyro. The purple dragon smiled, placing one of his paws on top of hers. Ember smiled as she looked down, a barely noticeable blush on her normally pink cheeks. Scarlet chuckled as the wall of darkness started to disappear, the stream pushing past it as the images of all the horrible things that had happened went with it.

_'Now, focus. Let the joy of flight surround you as the spirit of the ancestors stand by.'_

Ember paused, taking one last look at her Spyro. As he gave a nod, Ember smiled as she closed her eyes and spread her wings. At first, nothing happened. Slowly, though, Ember felt her body starting to get lighter as she flapped her wings.

Opening her eyes again, she noticed she was back in the 'real' world, but something felt different. It was almost as if she had suddenly gotten taller. Looking down, she gasped when she saw her paws were a few feet off the ground. Looking around frantically, she saw she was hovering in the air. A massive grin appeared on her face not a second later.

"I'm flying! I'm actually flying!" she exclaimed happily, doing a few flips in the air as she hovered over the beach.

_'See? I told you it was easy. Now then, we should catch up wi—huh? Ember, what are you doing!?'_

Scarlet watched as Ember zoomed over the beach, smiling widely, heading towards a nearby mountain range. With out a second thought, she flew quickly through a small gap as she zigged and zagged through the chasm and out the other side, tilting upwards. She flew high up and did a half-flip, flying back towards the beach upside-down and doing a twirl, all the while giggling to herself as the smile never left her face.

Inside the void, Scarlet watched as Ember did several more flips and darted around in the air. She sighed, but couldn't suppress the nostalgic smile on her face. This Ember's reaction to learning to fly had almost mirrored her own.

As Ember continued to giggle to herself as she flew, Scarlet thought back to the events that had happened so far. Though Ember was still much younger than herself, and she still had much to learn about combat, she had quickly managed to pick up abilities that, as Scarlet could gather, had long been lost to her world. Scarlet couldn't help but think that, maybe, there was a chance that she would be alright on this journey after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Sorry this chapter took so long. I took a week and a half off of it to marathon a massive one-shot for Valentine's Day (which, if you haven't read already, you should totally check it out. Put a lot of work into it, and it's by far the longest one-shot I've ever written. /shot for self advertising), so I didn't work on this part for a while. It's up now though, and hopefully the wait between chapters won't be as long as they were for this one in the future.
> 
> Anyways, this chapter... I don't know. I feel like it could have been better. When I showed it to Riv, she said a side from one minor detail that I ironed out it was okay and continued the progress rather well, but I'm not sure... I feel like, considering she only just learned basic fire abilities, and although I went to great lengths to spell out how incompetent the naga she was fighting was, I feel like Ember still had too easy of a time in her first 'real' battle of the fic. I dunno, maybe I'm not giving her enough credit. Regardless, I wasn't sure what else I could add to make the fight harder for her without her being overwhelmed so... Yeah.
> 
> Anyways, I'm hopeful that the next part will be the final part of the 'New Dawn' arc, but as always I'm not sure. All in all, this may end up being five parts instead of four unless I just say 'balls to it' when it comes to my word limit I put on myself for chapters and just upload one massive part for the finale of the 'New Dawn' arc. Eh, leave a comment in the reviews on which you would prefer. As always, I'm open to suggestions for fic worlds to visit.
> 
> But will Ember and Scarlet finally catch up to Spyro and Cynder? Why is Cynder so adamant about what's bugging her? Things are about to heat up in the next chapter of Scattered Embers!


	6. A New Dawn pt 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter beta-read by Riverstyxx. Further comments below.

The sun had almost set on the horizon and the sky was colored a pallet of orange, blue and purple. Ember had only learned to fly moments ago, but after she was done playing around with her new ability, she had darted off at a brisk pace towards where Spyro and Cynder had likely gone. She shook her head. Though her wings weren't tired yet, she was starting to have some trouble keeping her eyes open. She looked down at the almost hypnotic ocean whizzing by below.

"I wonder how far from land we are?" she asked, her voice sounding a bit drained as she struggled to fight a yawn.

 _'No idea. With how quick you're flying, though, I assume we're pretty far from where we started,'_ Scarlet said, her voice sounding oddly nervous. _'You should really pace yourself, though. You're going to tire yourself out quickly at this rate.'_

"Huh? Oh, no. That's okay, but I'm fine," Ember said, glancing down at her necklace. "I used to visit the speedways a lot in my world to fly around, so I'm actually pretty used to flying quickly for a long amount of time."

_'Speedways?'_

Ember shook her head. For a second she had forgotten how different this world was from her own.

"Speedways are awesome! The gravity there is a lot less than in the main realms, which allows for younger dragons whose wings aren't strong enough yet to fly," Ember explained, a smile on her face. "I used to go to the one in Dragon Village a lot. They have obstacle courses set up to test how good of a flier you are, but I almost never did those. I just liked flying around with the wind rushing past my scales."

 _'Sounds like fun,'_ Scarlet said. Though she was reminded of how the spiritual side of Ember's world had apparently become lost over time, she had to admit that these 'speedways' sounded like a good way for young dragons to test their flying abilities. Thinking that she should suggest that to the other guardians once this was all over, she noticed the nostalgic smile on Ember's face.

"It really is. Of course, Spyro, or rather _my_ Spyro, held most of the records for the time trials. I've seen him in action, and he's a very quick flier. Though, he mostly follows the set path and tends to miss a few obvious short cuts and time-savers," Ember said, slowly shaking her head with a chuckle.

Inside the void, Scarlet tilted her head. Despite the fact that Ember hadn't truly learned how to fly until a few moments ago, the brisk pace she had set, combined with how she was still far from tired, suggested that she knew more about flying than she let on. _'Sounds like you really know a lot about these speedways.'_

Ember chuckled. "I told you, I used to visit them a lot. I know a lot of secrets about them that most dragons don't."

_'If so, how come you don't hold most of the records for them, then?'_

Ember paused before she shook her head. "Well, some of the targets in the trials required you to breathe fire, and I'm sure you remember how 'amazing' I was with that before I met you." Ember chuckled before she let out a soft sigh. "Besides, I told you that I don't really care about the trials. I mostly just liked to fly."

Scarlet was silent for a few seconds. She could feel like there was another reason why, like there was more to it than Ember let on, but felt like she shouldn't press the subject any further.

The duo went uncomfortably silent as they flew, the sky turning a deep shade of purple as night started to creep in. Ember yawned, brushing her eyes as she felt them start to grow heavy. She needed some way to keep her mind distracted from the feeling of tiredness that was creeping over her, so she knew she needed to come up with a new topic quick. Luckily, there was something Scarlet had said earlier that was still bugging her.

"Scarlet?"

_'Hmm?'_

Ember paused, knowing this was going to be hard on her considering what little she had been told earlier, but she needed to know. "You said there was a war in this world. I was wondering, if it isn't too much trouble..."

There was a short pause before Scarlet sighed.

 _'I mostly managed to avoid the war due to hiding in the wild for most of my childhood, but from what I heard, it was pretty bad,'_ Scarlet said, somberly.

Scarlet's tone only served to make Ember more curious. The severity behind it was unlike anything she had ever known. "How did it start?"

Though it sounded like an innocent question, the delayed response Ember got only served to hammer home how devastating it was.

_'It all started with the first purple dragon... I don't fully know the details myself, but from what I've heard, the guardians at the time were rather excited, since a purple dragon had never been born before. Able to use all four of the major elements... They were all too eager to teach him everything they knew.'_

Ember listened intently, but she was quick to notice a detail that confused her. "Wait. What do you mean 'all four elements'?"

 _'Huh? What do you mean?'_ Scarlet asked, sounding confused. _'Don't you have dragons that can use other elements than fire in your world?'_

Ember paused for a second, looking up as she thought. Finally, she shook her head. "None that I can think of. As far as I know, fire is the only element a dragon can use without the use of magic or some form of a power-up."

Scarlet was silent. Ember's rather nonchalant tone had slightly disturbed her. Had something caused the dragons outside of the fire element to go extinct in her world? Or...had the fire dragons...?

Scarlet shook her head, trying to shake the terrible possibilities of what could have caused three major species of dragons to go extinct out of her head. Deciding it best not to think about it, she returned to Ember's question.

_'Well, Ember, in this world there are four major elements a dragon can wield. You already know about fire, but besides that, there's also ice, electricity and earth.'_

Ember listened intently as she remembered something that had happened earlier. This world's Spyro had managed to shake a statue Sparx had been sleeping on despite it being a few feet away. That must have been the earth element. Now feeling a twinge of excitement, Ember had to ask. "Does that mean I can use elements besides fire?"

_'Sadly, it doesn't work like that.'_

Ember's face drooped at hearing Scarlet's words. That earth element seemed like it would have been fun to play around with.

_'You see, a dragon can only use one of the four elements from birth. A dragon who is born a fire dragon can only use fire, like an ice dragon can only use ice and so on. It's extremely rare to find a dragon that can use more than one element. Unless, of course, it's a purple dragon.'_

Ember listened carefully. She had never heard of anything like this before in her world, and all of it fascinated her greatly.

_'Purple dragons are an incredibly rare breed of dragon, born once in every ten generations. From what I heard, besides being able to use all four of the known elements, they are capable of using a few elements no other dragon can normally learn. I heard from the other guardians that they're also supposed to 'guide the fate of the era they're born in' but, to be honest, I'm not sure if anyone really knows what that means.'_

Ember's eyes sparkled. As far as she knew from her world, purple was just a very rare scale-color for a dragon. She never knew it came with such amazing abilities. The more she thought about it, though, the more she wondered if her Spyro also had these kinds of powers. She never _had_ heard of any other dragons using fairy powers to change what element they could use outside of Spyro.

 _'Anyways, back to what you asked earlier about how the war started,'_ Scarlet said, her voice returning to its somber tone.

_'As I said, the guardians were rather excited about teaching a dragon that could use all four elements. Even when he was still a child, they began to teach him to use all four elements to their fullest, and were pleasantly surprised when he managed to invent new elements no one had heard about. For a time, they thought he would go on to become the Dragon Realm's greatest warrior... If only they had known.'_

Hearing Scarlet sigh, Ember was more curious than ever to hear what had happened. Though she could guess where the story was heading, it still had her engrossed. "Sounds like they were overloading him at such a young age. I know at the nursery in my world, young dragons aren't suppose to learn how to properly use their fire breath until they're around five, and even then it's only the very basics until they're in their early teens. That's also only if they really want to learn it, too."

Scarlet paused. Was that really how it was supposed to work? She knew that Spyro had learned most of the advanced uses of the four elements at around twelve, but that was because they had been in the middle of a massive war and a purple dragon was desperately needed at his full power. She also didn't know of any other dragons her age, and she'd forgotten when she had started to self-teach herself in using her fire element, so she wasn't sure if this was the usual practice for teaching young dragons their element. She would have to discuss this with the other guardians once this was all said and done.

_'That might have been a major reason too, but from what I heard, he ended up snapping because he eventually became corrupted by the massive power he held. He became convinced that purple dragons were destined for something, and when he started to become a danger to those around him, the dragons banished him. Obviously, he wasn't exactly happy with their decision, and eventually sided with the apes to start a war that would last centuries against the same dragons that had once had such high hopes for him. Eventually, he took on the title that would become infamous throughout the realms... The Dark Master, Malefor.'_

Ember listened carefully. Though Scarlet's voice contained nothing but disdain, in a way it was almost tragic. A once powerful hero who everyone had high hopes for, finally snapping under the pressure and high pedestal everyone had put him on at such a young age, then being tossed aside without a second thought the moment he had started to show signs of being a danger to those around him. She dared not say anything, though, as the tone of Scarlet's voice left no question that she held nothing but hatred towards the dragon.

_'The war raged on, and Malefor's power grew. Setting his base of operations up in the 'Mountain of Malefor', it was almost impenetrable. No one dared to journey there, and those who did were never seen again. In the end, it was Malefor's own massive power itself that eventually caused it to collapse, trapping him in the Convexity dimension.'_

"Convexity?"

Scarlet paused, having to take a moment to think about how to explain it. _'I've only heard about the Convexity dimension from the other guardians, not like it matters. Pretty much no one is sure what it is. Some say it's the gap between worlds, others say it's a completely separate realm altogether. Probably the weirdest thing is that, besides being another place altogether, it's also an element a purple dragon can wield, and probably the most powerful at that.'_

Ember continued to listen carefully, a look of wonderment on her face. "Wow, Scarlet. You certainly know a lot about this stuff."

Scarlet chuckled. _'Well, I kind of had to learn all this stuff as preparation for becoming a guardian. Though, I didn't mind having to learn the parts that dealt with Spyro.'_

Ember couldn't suppress her chuckle. Though they may be different in many ways, at least one thing stayed the same between their two worlds.

 _'Speaking of Spyro, this is where he comes into this story. Many years after Malefor got trapped in Convexity, the war still raged on. Though Malefor's power and influence had been significantly decreased, he was still able to command his army from afar. Many dragons had..._ disappeared _during that time,'_ Scarlet's voice faltered a bit as she forced out that part. _'And many of the beings in the realm were beginning to lose hope. However, all that changed on the Year of the Dragon, when a purple egg was laid.'_

"Spyro's?"

_'Yep. With his birth, many found a renewed hope as they felt that he would soon changed the tide of the war... But Malefor had other plans.'_

Ember raised an eyebrow as Scarlet's voice trembled a bit. "What do you mean? What was he planning?"

Scarlet paused, air escaping her lungs as she tried to find the words to explain it, but stopped herself just short of speaking. Ember grew worried, sensing that whatever Scarlet was about to explain, it wasn't going to be good.

_'W-well... Let me put it this way. Ember...have you noticed that, besides Spyro, Cynder and myself, there are almost no other dragons around our age?'_

Ember paused as she glanced up for a second. "You know, I _was_ wondering about that..."

_'Well, Ember... On that night, when the guardians were moving the eggs to the temple in hopes of keeping them safe...Malefor's army attacked. Their goal was to capture the purple dragon egg, but from what I understand, the former fire guardian had already hid Spyro's egg downstream. When the apes got where the nursery was and found that out... It was chaos.'_

Ember gulped. She _really_ didn't like where this story was going.

_'Ember, a vast majority of the eggs there that night, the baby dragons within them... They never got to see the light of day.'_

Ember let those words sink in as she flew. A scowl came over her face and her eyes narrowed. She let out a low growl as she thought about that horrible act. Ember was generally a kind and caring soul, willing to see even the tiniest shred of good in people. However, if there was one way to get her on her very short hated list, it was to harm a dragon egg in any way. The Sorceress had stolen eggs, and though what she had planned for the baby dragons once they hatched was inexcusable, at least she had been willing to let them take their first breath and give Spyro time to rescue them. This...

Whatever little sympathy she could possibly muster for this 'Malefor' instantly shattered. Ember didn't even realise that, in her anger, she had picked up her pace considerably.

_'I was one of the lucky ones. My egg was laid late, so I wasn't at the temple when it was attacked, and my mom took my egg and went into hiding when my dad caught wind of it. From what I learned, there were also a few others who had somehow managed to survive. But there was one egg... It survived, but with what happened to the dragoness that hatched from it...'_

Ember titled her head, having calmed down somewhat as her pace slowed. Scarlet's voice had faltered a bit towards the end there, which had her rather curious now despite the dark implications.

"W-what happened to it?" Ember asked, her voice a bit shaky as she was unsure if she really wanted to know.

Scarlet paused. From what she could gather, Ember came from a much more peaceful world than her own, and with how she didn't seem to know of the Dark Master or the war, she could assume that none of that had happened in her world. That meant that, if there was a Cynder in her world, what Malefor had done to her wouldn't have happened in that world. This made her wonder if telling her about this world's Cynder was a good idea. Maybe because Ember was wasn't from this world, and didn't know of Cynder's past acts firsthand, she would be more willing to understand her than most other beings in this world. Still, after everything Cynder had been through...

 _'...That egg had been capture by the apes and kept prisoner for several years before Spyro rescued the dragoness who hatched from it.'_ Technically, she wasn't lying. Cynder _had_ been more or less a prisoner at the time.

"That's horrible!" Ember exclaimed as she looked down at her necklace. "Why would they do such a thing!?"

 _'They... They thought it would be good leverage for the war...'_ Again, technically she wasn't lying. _'The things they did to that poor dragoness... All I can say is, I'm grateful Spyro managed to rescue her.'_

"Is she alright now?"

Though Ember couldn't see her, Scarlet nodded. _'Yes, she's fine now. It helps that, after Spyro rescued her, she joined him to help fight against the Dark Master.'_

Ember paused as she placed a paw to her chin. It didn't take much for her to figure out which dragoness Scarlet was referring to. "Scarlet? That dragoness you're talking about... She's Cynder, isn't she?"

Scarlet paused. It did seem pretty obvious with the whole 'helping Spyro fight the Dark Master' line, and the fact that they were chasing after both of them at the moment.

 _'Yes, it was Cynder,'_ Scarlet said, a twinge of remorse in her voice. _'Though she seems fine now, I can't image how hard all that must have been on her. I don't think I could have lasted a day if I were in her shoes...'_

"Me either," Ember said, a sad tone to her voice. "At least she's doing fine now, though, right?"

_'Yeah. Thank the ancestors.'_

Things went quiet as Ember flew across the ocean. She had understood that this world was very different from hers, but she hadn't realized just _how_ different it was. A raging war, super-powered dragons, slaughtering dragons while they were still in the egg, and torturing the ones that somehow survived...

Ember shuddered. Part of her was kind of glad now that the worst things she had to worry about in her world were Ripto and Gnasty.

_'Anyways, after Spyro managed to rescue Cynder, things became quiet for a time. Malefor's army hadn't done any major attacks since. It was a very welcomed short break. However, things didn't stay calm for long, and it was soon realized why they had taken such a break despite never doing so before. You see, the apes were preparing for a cosmic event. The Night of Eternal Darkness.'_

Ember's face curled a bit. Anything with 'Eternal Darkness' in it likely wasn't a good thing.

_'The Night of Eternal Darkness is a cosmic event in which all the planets in our cosmos align. When it happens, it allows the souls of those who passed to walk the earth once more. However, that's not all the danger it presented. Due to the Night of Eternal Darkness weakening the border of our realm and the spirit realm, it also allowed Malefor a chance to escape his prison in Convexity.'_

"Yikes... What did they do about it?"

_'Well, I don't know the full details, but from what I heard, Cynder was the first one to journey to the Well of Souls. I'm not sure why she attempted to go there without Spyro, but I do know Spyro was quick to go after her. The only one who really knows the details of what happened that day was the Chronicler, since he guided Spyro through it, but all we really knew was that, despite their best efforts...'_

Scarlet paused, trying to think of the best way to phrase it. _'On that night, the Dark Master returned to our world, and for three years...Spyro and Cynder were never heard from again.'_

"Huh?" Ember muttered. "How? What happened to them? I mean, we're currently chasing after them at the moment, so obviously they survived."

_'Well, yeah. From what I heard, Malefor's return caused the Well of Souls to collapse. In an attempt to keep them from being crushed, Spyro froze himself and Cynder in some sort of time crystal. However, no one knew that at the time, so everyone assumed the worst. Those three years were dark times, Ember...'_

Ember was silent as she flew through the air. She had thought that this world was rather dark before, but the more she heard of its history, the more out of place she felt. What really surprised her was the fact that this world's Spyro had actually failed to stop Malefor's return. From what she knew from her world, Spyro was supposed to be an ace, a dragon you called when all hope seemed lost, and this world's Spyro seemed to be even more skilled and possessed more powers than her world's...

Ember shivered. Part of her was really starting to miss her world.

_'For three years, Malefor turned the tides of war in his favor. All hope seemed lost. The Valley of Avalar was the last stronghold for dragonkind. With even that slowly starting to fall to his army, it seemed like his victory was assured. Dragonkind needed a miracle if they wanted to make it through this...and a miracle was exactly what they got.'_

"Spyro and Cynder?"

_'Yes. From what I understand, Malefor's minions discovered them while they were digging in the mines. When they found them, they took them to the deepest part of the mines and broke them out of the time crystal.'_

Ember raised her head, eyes narrowing in confusion. "Wait... Why? I mean, I'm glad they did because it apparently worked out for the best, but wouldn't it make more sense to leave them trapped so they couldn't interfere?"

Scarlet chuckled.

_'That's the thing. Though Malefor was apparently as cunning as he was merciless, his minions possessed the intelligence of a bag of rocks. If I had to guess, it was because they wanted the prestige that came with defeating the two biggest threats to their master. Needless to say, that didn't exactly work out well for them.'_

Ember giggled, rolling her eyes. It would seemed that, though the villains in this world made the ones in her world look like harmless kittens, incompetent minions were a constant between them.

_'Anyways, having been freed, Spyro and Cynder quickly went to work helping to turn the tides of the war back into their favor. However, thanks to that three year gap they were out of commission, Malefor was able to enact in his decades-old plan. You see, as I said before, he became convinced that purple dragons were destined for something... Unfortunately for all of us, he was convinced a purple dragon's destiny was to destroy the world.'_

Ember raised an eyebrow, looking upwards. "Wait a second, though. If that _was_ the case, wouldn't that mean he would end up basically killing himself?"

 _'Didn't matter to him. From what I heard, he was so deluded that he was immortal that he believed he could actually survive such a thing. Honestly, I actually have my own idea about what his actual motive was for wanting to destroy the world, but that's for later,'_ Scarlet said, taking a short pause before she continued.

_'Anyways, in order to achieve that goal, Malefor resurrected an ancient fiery golem known as 'The Destroyer'. I don't know much about it personally but, from what I heard, when awoken it makes a trip around the planet. When it returns to the place it awakened from, the world is soon destroyed there after. Spyro and Cynder fought against it with all their might in an attempt to stop it, and even though they did manage to destroy it, in the end it was no use. Malefor just resurrected it again, and it continued its journey undeterred. With any hopes of stopping it dashed, they knew their only chance was to confront Malefor himself.'_

Ember shivered. The idea of a creature that existed solely to destroy the world was almost unthinkable. Why would it exist? Could there be such a creature in her world as well? Ember shook her head. Like a lot of things she was learning about this world, she pushed that disturbing thought to the back of her mind.

 _'Malefor was held up in the Belt of Fire, the 'birthplace' of the Destroyer. The wall of fire was almost impenetrable and unable to be flown over, so the previous fire guardian... In hopes of saving the world, he sacrificed himself to allow Spyro and Cynder a way through.'_ Scarlet paused, her voice starting to strain.

_'From what I heard, Spyro was rather close to the fire guardian. He viewed him as almost a father figure of sorts. Even when all was said and done, his death hit him the hardest of all. He was regarded as a hero for what he'd done, and held in highest regards amongst the line of fire guardians even before his death.'_

Scarlet went silent. Ember lowered her head. It must have been hard on everyone when the previous guardian had died, especially Spyro. She couldn't even begin to imagine the pressure Scarlet must feel to have to try to live up to those standards, especially considering how she was considerably younger than the other guardians.

_'Anyways, not much is really known about the details of Spyro and Cynder's fight with Malefor, but from what I heard it was almost unreal. Even though Spyro and Cynder were strong in their own right, from what I heard, Malefor was almost invincible. No matter what attack they threw at him, no matter how powerful, he would just shrug it off. Even if he was knocked down, he'd get back up not a second later. From what I heard, in the end, the ancestors of dragons gone by had to intervene and drag Malefor off to who knows where."_

A slight frown appeared on Ember's face, the description of the fight with Malefor seriously unnerving her. "W-was he really that powerful?"

_'Well, I only heard of all of this from the guardians, who heard it from Spyro, so there may be some inaccuracies, but... Considering everything else we've known about him, I'm willing to believe so.'_

Ember gulped.

_'I wouldn't worry, though. It's been years since Malefor's defeat. If he could've come back, he likely would have done so by now. I think it's pretty safe to say that he's gone for good now.'_

"That's good to hear," Ember said, breathing a sigh of relief, knowing there wasn't a chance she'd end up encountering this monster during her stay in this world.

_'I'll say. Anyways, though Spyro and Cynder had stopped the Dark Master once and for all, by the time they had done it, the Destroyer had already managed to complete its walk around the world. The world began to shake violently as chunks of it broke away. It was utter chaos. Though I had managed to mostly avoid the war growing up, when that began, I was absolutely terrified.'_

Ember closed her eyes. She couldn't even begin to imagine how terrifying it must have been to live through the end of the world. Opening them, she looked up. "What happened? I mean, considering the world's still in one piece and all..."

 _'Glad you asked. This is where Spyro managed to do something amazing,'_ Scarlet said, a slight tone of excitement in her voice. _'With the world collapsing around him, Spyro mustered up every last bit of energy he could. Then, in one massive wave of energy, he managed to pull the entire world back together.'_

"Wow! Really!?" Ember asked, a sudden perkiness to her voice. "That's amazing!"

 _'I know, right? If it wasn't for the fact that we're all still here, I wouldn't have believed it myself!'_ Scarlet said, her voice managing to have the same perk to it that Ember's did. _'I heard that it took a lot out of him, though. When he finally made it back to the dragon temple, he could barely muster the strength to move for an entire month.'_

Ember was practically beaming. Apparently, being an awesome hero came naturally to Spyro regardless of the world he was in. Her mind began to wander as she wondered if her Spyro was capable of the same feat.

 _'Anyways, that's the history to our world in a nutshell,'_ Scarlet said, a playful tone to her voice. _'Doesn't sound nearly as peaceful as your world does, but after everything it's been through, I think the defeat of Malefor makes the peace we've managed to achieve all the more sweet.'_

"It certainly sounds like quite the tale," Ember said, her focus now back on flying. "I never knew the Spyro of your world was such a hero. I mean, my world's Spyro has managed to do some amazing stuff too, but not to the likes of repairing our world as it falls apart."

 _'Yeah. Spyro really is amazing,'_ Scarlet said, her voice trailing off. _'Cynder is pretty cool in her own right too, but Spyro is just awesome.'_

Scarlet sighed. _'Before all this started, I was actually supposed to help them get the dragon eggs back. I was rather excited, getting to work alongside my heroes.'_

Ember looked down, a frown on her face. "Oh, right. I heard about that... Sorry I kind of ruined that."

 _'It's alright. From what I understand, if we make it to the Chronicler in time, I might still be able to join them after all,'_ Scarlet said, a soft tone to her voice. _'Though, I'm also a bit intimidated by the idea.'_

Ember raised her head, a curious look on her face. "How so?"

Scarlet sighed. _'Well... Spyro and Cynder are legendary heroes here in our world. Next to them, I'm just some random bumpkin who grew up in the forest and became the fire guardian because there were almost no other fire dragons to do it.'_ Scarlet paused, shaking her head in the void. _'I'm not exactly sure how much help I'd be, to be honest.'_

"Hey, don't say that," Ember said, a concerned look on her voice. "You have me beat any day. I didn't even know how to properly breathe fire until I met you."

 _'I don't know.'_ Scarlet sighed, her voice soft. _'I may be one of the few fire dragons left who's really good at their element, but I'm still not sure if I can hold a candle next to those two.'_

Ember was silent for a moment. How could Scarlet think that? True, she didn't really know much about how good they were at fighting, but from what she'd seen of Scarlet in the void, she seemed a lot more capable of taking care of herself then _she_ was. Scarlet even knew more about using fire than her world's Spyro.

"Scarlet... No, Ember," Ember said, surprising Scarlet with the use of her actual name. "You're supposed to be this world's version of me, right?"

_'Yeah? So?'_

Ember paused. "Well, in a way... I don't believe that."

_'Huh? What do you mean?'_

Ember shook her head.

"What I mean is, you're like a better version of me," Ember said, looking down at her necklace. "When we were in the void, while I was mostly hesitant, you were quick to take charge. You already have a great grasp on fire, to where you were selected to be the next guardian. Meanwhile, I couldn't even breathe fire without burning my throat."

Ember looked ahead. "On top of that, while I was panicking in that fight earlier, you were able to keep a level head and guide me through it. When the forest accidentally caught on fire, you were the one who figured out how to get it under control quickly while I was jumping around in a panic."

Ember paused and Scarlet was silent for a few seconds.

_'I don't get it, Ember. What are you trying to say?'_

Ember looked down. "What I'm saying is, you're not just an alternate version of me... You're a better version of me." Ember's eyes drooped as she hugged her forelegs to her chest. "In a way, you're everything I want to be. Brave, strong, quick-witted...and well-trained enough to where you would be considered by others ready to go on an adventure with Spyro."

Ember sighed. "In others words... I envy you. I really, really do."

There was a brief silence as Ember continued to fly. Finally, Scarlet spoke up. _'Ember...how old are you?'_

"Uh...twelve. Why do you ask?"

 _'I figured you were rather young considering how short you were in comparison to me in the void,'_ Scarlet said, a slight chuckle following shortly after.

"So?"

In the void, Scarlet shook her head, a slight smile on her face. _'You're still a kid, Ember. You're still experiencing new things, and still growing. In time, you'll grow into your own and be able to become what you truly want to be. Just give it time.'_

Ember looked down at her necklace as she flew, not saying a word. Finally, she spoke up. "Really...? I don't know..."

 _'Trust me. I know you will,'_ Scarlet said, a confident tone to her voice. _'You are me from another world, after all.'_

The dragons laughed, the moons in the sky lighting the way as the ocean below reflected the light of the stars. Ember took a deep breath, the cool night breeze feeling good in her throat. Glancing back down to the necklace, she smiled. "Scarlet?"

_'Hm?'_

"Thank you."

_'You're welcome. And thank you too.'_

"You're welcome as well."

Ember looked onwards to the rolling blue ocean on the horizon. Thanks to her talk with Scarlet, she wasn't sure how long she had been flying now. How far was the Chronicler's home now? It felt like they should have been there already. Ember glanced down, sighing. Now she wasn't even sure if she was going the right direction.

Ember watched as the glowing lights reflecting off the sea whizzed by. It was a rather beautiful sight to behold. She could just barely see her own reflection off the water. Ember had a hard time taking her eyes off it, smiling slightly as she watched the waves go by, and by...and by...

_'EMBER!'_

Ember's eyes snapped open as she saw her reflection was now almost as big as she was. As a sudden cold jolt struck her, Ember floundered around for a bit as she splashed in the water, coughing as she finally managed to get a steady float on the surface.

"Huh!? What!? Where!?" Ember said, looking around. Finally realizing what had happened, a sheepish grin appeared on her face. "Oh, sorry... I must have dozed off there for a few seconds..."

Scarlet let out an annoyed sigh.

"In my defence, I'm usually in bed by now."

Scarlet shook her head, looking at her body stuck in the middle of an ocean through the vision pool in the void.

 _'I know it's late, but we have to keep going,'_ Scarlet said, a somewhat unnerved tone to her voice. _'Can you get back into the air?'_

Ember paused, taking a deep breath as she closed her eyes. Trying with all her might, she flapped her wings. The water around her stirred as she managed to get some lift for a few seconds, but it didn't take long before Ember exhaled and fell back into the water in the process. She wearily half-opened her eyes.

"It's no good. I barely have enough energy right now to stay afloat," she said, the drained tone of her voice reinforcing the meaning of her words.

_'Okay, okay... Just say calm. We can get out of this. Maybe if we...no. What if... No, that wouldn't work either...!'_

Ember paused as she noted how more and more desperate Scarlet was sounding. When Scarlet had voiced her dislike of water, she didn't think it was to an almost phobia-like level. Ember sighed, turning around and floating on her back. Unlike Scarlet, she was a pretty decent swimmer, so as Scarlet started babbling to herself about possible ways to escape, Ember decided to use this moment to rest her body. Spreading her wings to better keep her balance, Ember looked up at the brightly twinkling stars.

She yawned, eyes drooping as she fought the urge to fall asleep. No matter how good a swimmer she was, falling asleep in the middle of an ocean was a terrible idea. As she took a deep breath, she was unaware of the giant shadow starting to creep up on her from below.

"WAAH!"

Ember struggled to keep steady as her back connected with solid ground. Being lifted out of the water, she staggered to her paws as she looked around. She appeared to be on land, as confusing as it was. It was then she heard the 'land' let out a low wail. Slowly, she made her way to the 'front' of the island. Seeing the back of a giant head, Ember's eyes slowly went wide before she started darting around.

Once she finally realized what was going on, it took her a moment to put her thoughts into words. "Scarlet?"

_'Yeah?'_

"Are we on the back of a giant _turtle_?"

_'Leviathan, actually.'_

Ember sighed. This world was getting odder by the second.

* * *

Spyro glanced around as he took in the night air. Sparx had long since fallen asleep, but he found himself a bit too unnerved to do so himself. Judging by the fact that Cynder was sitting not too far off gazing at the sky, he guessed she felt the same way. This awkward silence had been going on since Sparx had fallen asleep, and it hadn't made getting to sleep himself any easier. Spyro took a deep breath, still bothered by what was bugging his mate. Exhaling, he felt that, with Sparx not around to butt in, this might be his best shot at finally getting the answer.

"Cynder?"

Cynder turned her head to face Spyro, expression indifferent. "Let me guess... You're still wondering what's bugging me."

Spyro nodded, a concerned look on his face. Cynder sighed.

"I don't know. It's stupid..." she muttered, looking away.

"Cynder, if it bugs you, then it's not stupid," Spyro said, getting up and walking over to her. "You know you can tell me anything. If something's bothering you, maybe I can help."

Cynder glanced down at the Leviathan's shell before looking at Spyro out of the corner of her eye.

"It's Ember," she said, turning her head towards Spyro. "I don't know why, especially with her always flirting with you every chance she gets, but when she chose to stay behind at the temple... I don't know," Cynder glanced down, letting out a sigh.

"We've been on plenty of adventures before by ourselves, so I know we'll be alright without the extra help, but..."

"You feel betrayed?"

Cynder raised her head, her eyes a little wide as her mouth hung slightly open. She was quick to glance down. "I guess."

Spyro shook his head. "You can't really blame her. From what we saw at the temple, it was clear something happened to her."

Spyro lowered his head to make eye contact with her. "And not even factoring that in, she hasn't been through a lot of what we've been through. This would have been her first time doing something like this. That's rather intimidating for someone new to this, and combining that with whatever shook her up so badly..."

Cynder glanced away, taking a pause before she finally said something.

"I know. Still..." Cynder closed her eyes, several seconds passing as the cold breeze of the ocean air whistled by. "She irritates me, but at the same time, I guess it was nice having another female dragon around."

"I think I can understand it. In a way, you two kind of remind me of siblings," Spyro said, placing his wing over her.

Cynder raised her head up, glancing at Spyro out of the corner of her eye. "What do you mean?"

"Well, in a way, I noticed that Ember kind of looks up to you," he said, a smile on his face. "And despite how she may get on your nerves, I noticed that you did seem a bit more upbeat when around her too."

Cynder glanced away, though she did have a faint smile on her face. "I guess. Still doesn't compare to how she looks up to you." Cynder turned to face Spyro. "Speaking of which, why did you keep letting her act that way towards you? How come you haven't told her about us?"

"Why haven't you?"

Cynder was taken aback, expression blank as she struggled to think of how to respond. "I-I... I don't know. I guess..."

"You don't want to hurt her?"

Cynder paused before she looked down slightly. "Yeah, I guess so."

Spyro nodded. "It's the same for me. I may not exactly enjoy it, but it's not really her fault. The only other dragon she knew for twenty-four years was her mother, so she doesn't really know any better."

"Yeah, I think I can understand that," Cynder said, averting her eyes. Due to her 'upbringing', it had taken Cynder a good long time to develop proper social skills.

Spyro gave her a soft smile. "She'll find out about us eventually, but it'll be during a time we can break it to her gently. Ideally, a time when the eggs aren't in massive peril."

Cynder smiled, looking back at Spyro. He gave a comforting smile. "Feeling better now?"

"A bit."

"Good."

Spyro turned his head, looking forward as a silhouette started to appear through the fog. His expression turned serious. The White Isle wasn't far off now...

* * *

Ember sat on the back of the 'Leviathan', wings too sore to get her back into the air. Despite how tired she was, she found it hard to actually fall asleep now that she was forced to ride atop some strange creature she had never seen before. Ember sighed and looked down at her necklace.

"Where do you think this thing's taking us?"

_'No idea. At the very least, it'll let you take a break from flying.'_

Ember smiled. If there was one good thing about this, it was that. The sound of the waves gently lapping at the Leviathan's shell was all that could be heard. Ember glanced around before she winced and grabbed her head.

"Ow..."

_'What's wrong?'_

"Nothing," Ember muttered, rubbing her head. "It's just, my head is still a bit sore after that earlier battle..."

 _'I'm not surprised,'_ Scarlet said, trying to suppress a laugh. _'Though, I am surprised you managed to remain consciousness after that. I really hope I won't be feeling that after I get my body back.'_

Ember pouted, getting a chuckle out of Scarlet. Shaking her head in the void, Scarlet smirked.

_'If it's bugging you that much, you still have the spirit gems that Terrador gave you.'_

"Oh, right!" Ember said, looking down at her necklace. "I almost forgot about those."

Ember placed her paw on her necklace and concentrated. The necklace started to glow and, not a second later, a ball of light popped out and appeared in Ember's paw where it flashed and turned into the bag of spirit gems. Ember opened it and took out a red crystal.

"So... I just smash it, right?"

_'More or less.'_

Ember smashed the gem on the back of the Leviathan's shell, cracking it and watching the shards start to glow in awe. Not a second later, they shot towards her. Ember jumped a bit and let out a meek 'eep', but as the shards seemed to dissolve into her, she calmed down a bit as the soreness of her head started to fade. She placed her paw on her head, noticing the bump had significantly receded as well.

"That's amazing!" she muttered, looking back down at the gems in the bag.

_'Yeah. No one's sure exactly how they work, but they are very useful. I wouldn't overuse them, though, as they're mostly for emergency situations."_

Ember nodded, glancing around at the gems in the bag. From what she had gathered, red gems healed physical pain, green gems gave you an energy boost...

"Hold on. Scarlet, what are the purple gems for?"

 _'Oh! The purple gems are very special,'_ Scarlet said, the tone of her voice perking up a bit. _'They're gems that allow a dragon to access their furies quicker than they normally would.'_

"Furies?"

 _'A dragon's most powerful attack,'_ Scarlet said, an eager tone to her voice. _'Basically, think of it as a desperate move when a dragon wants to end a battle quickly. Fury is when a dragon uses excess energy that's been built over the course of long periods of battle in one grand attack, usually an explosion of whatever their element is. Though it usually takes a while to build up the energy needed for it, purple spirit gems can be used to accelerate the process.'_

"Sounds interesting," Ember said, sounding slightly intimidated. "Is it dangerous, though?"

 _'To the dragon? No. At most, they're slightly dazed afterwards from releasing that much energy. To pretty much everything else_ around _said dragon, though? Very much so_. _'_

Ember gulped. She wasn't exactly sure how to feel about that. It would be useful if she ever found herself in a dangerous situation, but after the little _mess-up_ with the forest earlier...

_'I wouldn't worry about it too much, though. You still have a long way to go before you're ready to learn that.'_

Ember sighed. That was probably for the best. Tying the bag back up, she let her necklace's magic absorb it back into its hammerspace.

 _'I still can't get over that, by the way,'_ Scarlet said, a cheery tone to her voice. _'I hope my necklace keeps that ability. Would be really useful for when I get my body back.'_

"If it's anything like my necklace, then it probably will," Ember said, looking down at it. "I'm surprised that you haven't figured it out already. Didn't your mom tell you about it?"

_'No. As far as we both knew, it was just a normal necklace.'_

Ember paused, looking at the necklace around her neck. It seemed so odd when she thought about it. These necklaces were common knowledge in her world, so even with the war going on, Scarlet should have been able to figure out its abilities. She placed her paw on her chin, an idea starting to take form.

Once again, Ember placed her paw to her necklace. Another ball of light appeared out of it, but instead of a bag of spirit gems, it formed a metallic rectangular object that had a small cylinder on the front with a circular piece of glass in the middle. Ember smiled. It seemed she wasn't the only thing that had been transported into this world.

_'W-wha? What the heck is that?'_

"What? They don't have cameras in your world?"

_'Cameras?'_

"Yeah. Basically, they allow you to take pictures."

_'P-pictures?'_

Ember sighed. Was this world really _that_ behind on technology?

"Hold on, it'll be easier for me to show you than try to explain it," she said, turning the camera so the lens faced her. Smiling, she pressed the button.

A flash of blinding light filled the general area, and Ember stood dazed as her eyes rolled in her head. Small multi-colored dots floated in front of her eyes before she closed them and shook her head.

_'So...it's a flash bomb?'_

"No, no," Ember said, her eyes finally starting to readjust. "Look."

She turned the camera around to show a screen and fiddled with a few buttons until her smiling face appeared on it.

_'W-wha!? D-did that thing steal your face or something!?'_

It took everything Ember had not to bust out laughing. "No, silly! It took a picture of me!" she said, fiddling with the camera to bring up more pictures of the Artisan Realm.

"Basically, if there's a moment you want to remember, you can take a picture of it. That way you can look back at it and remember those times."

_'So... It's like an instant...scroll...thingy?'_

Ember rolled her eyes, chuckling slightly. "I guess you can say that."

She cycled through the pictures, each one showing a different part of the Artisan Realm. From the void, Scarlet looked on in awe.

_'Is that what your world's like?'_

"Part of it," Ember said, a smile on her face. "This is the Artisan Realm. It's a part of the world that's famous for its architects. That's the main reason my mom gave me this camera."

Ember continued to shuffle through the pictures, before one came up that showed a very caught-off-guard purple dragon. He was facing the camera, eyes wide and mouth agape as he appeared to be about to tumble over himself. From the void, Scarlet raised an eyebrow.

_'Ember? Is that the Spyro from your world?'_

"Yeah," Ember said, a faint smile on her face. "I took that picture around when I first met him. I ended up making him jump when I took that," she explained, placing a paw on the back of her head as she grinned sheepishly. "Yeah... Probably should have asked him if I could take his picture first, in hindsight."

Scarlet chuckled, looking at the picture. _'I wonder if this is what my Spyro looked like when he was that age. He looks rather adorable as a kid.'_

"Yeah..."

Ember sighed, eyes drooping as she looked at the picture. Seeing her distress, Scarlet spoke up. _'Hey, don't worry. The Chronicler said we can get your Spyro back.'_

"I know... Still."

Ember sighed, putting the camera back into her necklace's hyperspace. She looked around, noticing a fog off in the distance. Narrowing her eyes, she could see a dark silhouette not far behind it. As they got closer, what was revealed to be a massive temple started to come into view. Ember looked on in awe.

"Scarlet... Is that—?"

_'The White Isle? I don't know, but it certainly looks like some place the Chronicler would live.'_

Ember gulped as they got closer, an unexpected anxiousness starting to well up in her. Soon... Soon her Spyro would be saved.

* * *

"Man, this place doesn't get any less creepy no matter how many times we come here."

Spyro and Cynder tuned out Sparx's comment as they continued down the path. They had fought several stone golems on their way to the main part of the temple, though for the most part they hadn't really been too much of a problem. They had currently made it to an open courtyard, Spyro using his earth element to bash away another golem that got in their path. Looking at the familiar surroundings, he turned to the others.

"The Chronicler shouldn't be far off now."

Cynder nodded, following cautiously. Sparx looked around, keeping close to Spyro." Odd... Usually when we're in one of these big arena things, that's when some giant mook shows up."

Not a second after he said that, the candles nearby lit up and flames started to gather in front of the group. They formed a humanoid figure, a set of armor appearing around its chest as a flame sword materialized in its hand. The figure loomed over the group menacingly.

Narrowing her eyes, Cynder glared at Sparx. "You just _had_ to say something, didn't you?"

"Eeh... Sorry, my bad."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> O hai, AO3. Remember when I promised to update this semi-regularly? Yeah, that was pretty great. /shot
> 
> Anyways, yeah. Long over due update is long over due. I hate that after the long hiatus this fic experienced, the next update is basically just a big recap/exposition chapter. Still, it was a necessary thing so Ember better understood the worlds falling under that Legends continuity. We also finally got to see what was bugging Cynder this chapter, which honestly I'm not sure of how to feel over how it turned out. Basically, I was trying to do a different take a scene from Kendell's fic and how it would've happened without Ember there, but I felt it could have been pulled off better.
> 
> Also, someone asked me if Ember would be visiting other, non-Spyro worlds like Naruto and all that. My response is this: unless it appears in a fic world I want to include, then that's a 'no'. I only have one cross-over world planned in the grand scheme of things so far, and that's likely all there will be in terms of cross-overs. If you're looking for more 'conventional' cross-overs, I would suggest checking out my 'Infinite Loops' fic, though that's more comedic drabble collection than an adventure fic like this.
> 
> But how will Spyro and Cynder handle their new foe? Will Ember be able to catch up with them in time? And what happened to Ember's Spyro? Find out next time in the conclusion of the 'New Dawn' arc of Scattered Embers!


	7. A New Dawn Final pt. 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter beta-read by Riverstyxx. Further comments below.

The loud crash of metal on rock rang throughout the courtyard as the fire elemental brought its sword down. Spyro barely dodged out of the way in time as he retaliated with a blast of ice shards. The fire elemental brought up a flame shield, and the shards burst into steam as they connected and sent the elemental staggering back. Cynder quickly joined in, using her shadow element to maneuver around it and blasting a gust of wind that sent it staggering to its side.

Though the fire elemental was caught off balance, it was quick to reform and send a fire slash at Cynder. Ducking into the shadows, she reappeared next to Spyro.

"You two are doing great! Keep it up!"

Both dragons rolled their eyes as Sparx hid behind a nearby rock. Spyro glanced over at Cynder. "Remember how we used to take down those fire golems?"

"Yeah. They were mostly made of rock, though. Think it will work on a pure fire elemental?"

"Only one way to find out!"

With that, the two dragons darted in opposite directions. The fire elemental's head darted back and forth as it tried to keep track of them both. Cynder was the first one to make a move, charging forward as she let out a low growl. It went to slash at her, but Cynder took to the air with a deafening shriek. The fire elemental shuddered, its movements suddenly locking up as an overwhelming sense of fear took over.

Spyro was quick to capitalize on this, charging forward as his breath started to become visible. Jumping as he got close, he let out a massive wave of ice that engulfed the elemental. Spyro kept it up as steam clouded the battlefield, only to be sent flying back as the fire elemental let loose a wave of flames.

As Spyro hit the ground, Cynder quickly flew down next to him. Getting to his feet, he shook his head.

"Well, it was worth a shot," he muttered, keeping a close eye on the fire elemental.

The knight engulfed in flames drew closer, prompting Spyro and Cynder to take a defensive stance. This elemental was proving to be far more difficult than the ones Spyro had originally faced, even with Cynder by his side. It brought its sword down, causing Spyro and Cynder to dart in opposite directions. Clearly, this battle wasn't going to end any time soon.

* * *

Ember jumped off the back of the Leviathan and the massive turtle creature sank back into the waves. Glancing around, she was bit overwhelmed by the massive structure not far up the cliff face. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, she looked down at the path littered with the remains of golems and spirit gems.

 _'Spyro and Cynder must have been here already,'_ Scarlet said, keeping a close eye out in case anything snuck up on them. _'If we hurry, we might be able to catch up with them.'_

Nodding, Ember felt a sudden surge of energy within her. Readying her wings, she took to the air and flew up to the temple above.

* * *

Spyro and Cynder weaved to and fro as wave after wave of fire was sent hurtling at them. Spyro flew to the right before slamming down into the ground and sending a shockwave of earth at the elemental. It caused the creature to stagger back, but the flames merely slipped through the cracks and reformed not a second later. Spyro growled, rolling out of the way as he barely dodged the fire blade coming down on him.

From the air, Cynder dived down, spitting out a glob of poison at the beast. Connecting with the fire elemental, the poison sizzled as it ate a hole through the elemental's armor, but it merely turned into steam when it connected with the fire.

The elemental turned around, attempting to send a wave of fire at her. It was quickly sent staggering forward, however, as a blow connected with its back. Turning around, it saw that Spyro's tail was encased in a ball of jagged ice, which he quickly used to bash the elemental in the face.

As it staggered back, Spyro charged forward. Not wasting a second, the elemental brought both fists down, a wall of fire springing forth. Spyro barely had time for his jaw to drop before he was engulfed. His ice cracked and melted as he fell to the ground on his back.

"Spyro!"

Cynder darted down, unleashing another siren scream. The elemental locked up, giving her enough time to grab Spyro and put some distance between them. Now on the other side of the courtyard, Cynder set him down. "Are you alright?"

"Y-yeah," Spyro said, picking himself up as he shook his head. "This is crazy. We're throwing everything at it and it just keeps getting back up."

"We can't give up. There has to be someway to beat this thing," Cynder said, keeping a steady eye on the elemental.

As it started to shake off the effects of the fear scream, the dragons hunkered down. The elemental turned around and charged.

* * *

Ember flew up the side of the temple, all the while hearing the echoes of crashes and bangs as she got closer over the wall. It was then she heard a loud shriek echo out, causing her to flinch for a second.

"What was that!?"

_'I think that was Cynder! Spyro and her must be fighting something at the moment!'_

Ember looked around, hearing the battle raging on but seeing no indication of where it was taking place. It was then she saw a bright light flash not too far away, followed by another shriek.

"From the sound of things, it doesn't seem like it's going real well!"

Ember flew forward, following the sounds and where the glow had exploded from. Not a second later, she saw the peak of one of the odd towers start to glow. Suddenly, a blinding beam of light streaked towards her. Ember barely managed to dodge before another one shot at her.

"Eek! What the heck!?" she yelled, dodging out of the way of another blast. "Why is the Chronicler attacking us!?"

_'I'm not sure! I heard from the stories when Spyro visited this place that he had to pass a few of the Chronicler's tests before he could meet him. This might be one of his tests too!'_

"How? By turning us into Swiss cheese!?"

Ember barely dodged out of the way of another blast. Quickly, she darted to the ground and took cover in one of the entrances to the temple. As the blasts stopped, Ember took a moment to catch her breath.

_'Okay... No flying. Now we know.'_

Ember rolled her eyes at Scarlet's comment.

_'No time for sightseeing now, Ember! Spyro and Cynder need our help!'_

Nodding, Ember looked around. Hearing the sounds of battle ringing out, she quickly darted down the hall.

* * *

Spyro and Cynder flew circles around the elemental. It kicked up walls of flame every time it got a clear shot. Cynder darted up into the air, growling as she summoned a gust of wind. The elemental stood its ground, flames flickering. Cynder let out an annoyed groan at the ineffectiveness of her attacks. Spyro flew up next to her.

"I have an idea!" he said and whispered something in her ear. "Think it'll work?"

"Worth a shot!"

They nodded before darting down towards the elemental. Once again, they started to fly circles around it. Cynder started to kick up a gust of wind as Spyro let loose a stream of frost.

Ember darted around a corner just in time to catch sight of the attack. Watching on, she saw Spyro and Cynder start to pick up speed as a funnel of frost started to surround the elemental. As they continued, a small frost tornado engulfed the fire knight. Ember's mouth hung open, her eyes wide with awe.

"That's amazing."

_'I'll say. Spyro and Cynder aren't legendary heroes for nothing, after all!'_

As she watched, a faint orange glow starting to grow in the center of the tornado. As it glowed brighter, Ember brought her wing over her face to shield it from the sudden flash of light.

Spyro and Cynder were sent flying back as a massive wall of flames broke through their attack. Staggering to their feet, they kept a firm eye on the elemental. Ember watched on, eyes now wide with worry as the elemental started to glow brightly. Shooting its fists to the sides, it sent solid streams of fire at the two dragons.

Spyro and Cynder barely dodged out of the way in time, Spyro taking to the air as Cynder disappeared into her shadow. The elemental turned to face Spyro, lifting its sword into the air as it went to release a wave of fire. Just as it went to do so, it was struck in the back and sent staggering. Cynder had jumped out of its shadow and head-butted it in the back, her wind element protecting her from the heat of its flames.

As Cynder landed on the ground, she ducked under a slash of the elemental's flame sword. She retaliated with a swing of her tail blade, but the element jerked back to avoid it before jumping forward and bring its fist down. Cynder was quick to jump back, but the solid wave of fire was too quick. Before she could take to the air, she was slammed with the blast and sent tumbling backwards.

"Cynder!" Spyro yelled, a scowl crossing his face as he darted down towards the elemental.

The elemental spun around, taking a swing at Spyro. Managing to stop just short, he fired several icicles. The elemental quickly raised its shield, and the ice began to melt as it chipped away at it. With a crack, the elemental staggered back. Capitalizing on the opening, Spyro slammed down on the ground and sent an earth shockwave towards the flaming warrior.

The elemental was knocked off its feet, falling to the ground and scattering flames around the battlefield. Ember almost yelped at the sight, but managed to keep her composure. Panting a bit, Spyro kept watch over the flames for a few seconds as they flickered and shrank by the second. Narrowing his eyes, he hesitated a few more seconds before he turned away, facing softening as he turned towards Cynder. Quickly, he started to make his way over to her.

Ember grinned at Spyro's easy victory. About to make her way towards them, she stopped when she noticed the flames starting to flicker brightly. Without warning, they shot towards Spyro.

"Cynder! Are you al—?"

"SPYRO! BEHIND YOU!"

Spyro stopped at the sound of the voice, whirling around to be met with a face full of flames. The elemental rammed into him at full force, and Spyro let out a yelp of pain as he was engulfed in fire. He was tossed forward, tumbling on the ground, his body covered in scorch marks.

Ember gasped as the elemental started to regain its form. Spyro let out a groan of pain, struggling in vain to get to his feet. Watching the unfolding scene from the void, Scarlet growled. _'We need to do something!'_

Ember looked on, eyes wide as she gulped. "W-what should we do?"

_'You'll have to fight it!'_

"What!?" Ember exclaimed, taking a few steps back.

Scarlet let out a huff. _'You can do this, Ember! You managed to beat the naga, remember? I believe you can do this!'_

"Bu-but...!" Ember stammered.

The fire elemental continued to make its way towards the two dragons. Cynder managed to get to her feet and she charged forward in front of Spyro. Her body was still badly bruised, and Spyro was still struggling to get to his feet thanks to that sneak attack. Ember bit her lip as the elemental loomed over them.

From what she had seen, the Spyro of this world seemed to be an exceptional fighter, even better than her world's Spyro, and yet he was still struggling with this thing. If he was having a hard time, what were the chances that she, a dragon who had only just learned the basics of breathing fire, had against it?

_'But I can't just do nothing!'_

Ember sighed, taking a look back at the battlefield. Though every instinct she had was telling her this was a terrible idea, she knew she needed to do something. With a gulp, she charged forward.

"H-hey! You big flaming...thing!"

As her voice echoed throughout the courtyard, it caught the attention of everyone there. Cynder's eyes went wide. "Ember!? What are you doing here?"

"Trust me, it's a long story!"

Ember kept a close eye on the elemental as its gaze was locked on her. She gulped, trying her best to hide her fear, though her quivering legs were doing a good job at betraying her. Without warning, the elemental charged. Ember gave a small shriek as she barely stumbled out of the way of its blade, managing to turn around and duck under its swing. She watched as the elemental went to bring its sword down. With hardly any time to react, she ran to her right and barely avoided a wave of fire.

As the fire elemental pulled its sword out of the ground, Ember took a few deep breaths to calm herself. In the void, Scarlet narrowed her eyes. _'You can't keep dodging, Ember. You need to counterattack!'_

"How am I supposed to damage this thing!? It's made entirely of fire! I don't think my flames will do anything to it!"

"It can still be hit with fire!"

Ember jumped at the voice, looking back to see Spyro had managed to get to his paws. He was still feeling the effects of the cheap shot, but wasn't about to give up just yet.

"I'm not really sure how it works, and it doesn't do much damage, but fire attacks can still harm these things!" he explained, having trouble supporting himself.

 _'Oh, right! I'm not alone anymore. Until I explain what's going on, I can't talk to Scarlet without them thinking I'm a crazy dragon,'_ Ember thought before she looked back at the elemental heading her way. Her expression quickly flattened. _'If they don't already think I'm a crazy dragon...'_

Ember let out a yelp as she dodged to the left, a wall of flames erupting from the elemental bringing its sword down. As the wall grazed her shoulder, she let out a grunt of pain. Seeing this, Spyro attempted to charge forward, but quickly faltered in pain.

Cynder, who had taken to the skies waiting for a moment to strike, looked down at him. "Spyro! You can barely stand!" she said, flying down closer for him to hear. "Just hold still for now! We'll handle this!"

 _'Easy for you to say!'_ Ember thought, jumping back to avoid a punch. _'You're the one who—EEK!'_ Ember ducked down, barely avoiding having her head decapitated by a sword swing. _'Who actually knows what they're doing in a fight!'_

_'Ember! Calm down! You can do this! Just keep a level head!'_

_'That's kind of hard to do right now, Scarlet!'_ Ember thought, though she quickly paused. _'Wait, Scar—AAH!'_

Ember jumped into the air, just avoiding a wall of flames. She wasn't sure how Scarlet had heard her thoughts, but now was neither the time nor place to wonder about that. Taking a deep breath, Ember sent out a stream of flames towards the elemental. If it hadn't been for the elemental raising its hand to block and a faint grunt, she wouldn't have been sure it had done any damage at all.

The elemental raised its sword towards her, taking a swing. Ember backed away out of its range, leaping upwards over a wave of fire. She took a few deep breaths to steady herself before she spat out a fireball. The ball of fire went sailing downward in a spiral...only to land harmlessly at the elemental's feet.

The elemental paused, looking blankly at the fireball before looking back to Ember. Ember's face went flat as she groaned.

The elemental went to send another wave of fire at her, only to be knocked to its side when Cynder rammed into it using her wind element. She turned briefly towards Ember.

"Good job distracting it!" she said before turning back to the elemental.

 _'Uh, yeah! Distraction! Let's go with that!'_ Ember thought to herself as she flew in closer to the battle.

Cynder charged forward, letting out a siren scream that paralyzed the elemental. Kicking up a whirlwind around her tail, she spun around and smacked it in the chest with her tail blade. The elemental staggered back, attempting to regain its balance. Ember attempted to join in by sending several fireballs towards the elemental... all of which just went sailing by, missing it by inches.

Cynder turned towards Ember. "You can stop distracting now."

Ember's face went flat. She was really going to have to practice her aim once this was all over.

The elemental shook its head before grasping its sword in both hands and charging at the dragons, attempting to hit them with a mighty slash. Both dragons took to the air, managing to dodge the wave of flames that soon followed after. Cynder growled.

"This is crazy! We're throwing everything we have at it and it just keeps getting back up!" she said, narrowing her eyes at the flame warrior.

Ember took several deep breaths, glancing around the battle field. She knew that her attacks wouldn't do much, so she had to think of some other way to help. The courtyard was mostly empty, filled with rocks, dirt, a few decorations such as statues and...

"...A fountain!" Ember exclaimed, spotting the pool of water not far off on one of the edges of the courtyard.

"Huh?" Cynder muttered, turning her head towards Ember.

"The fountain!" Ember said, turning to Cynder. "If we can toss this guy in there, we might be able to weaken it enough to defeat it!"

Cynder glanced down towards the fountain, raising an eyebrow. "Ember, it's obvious that thing's being held together by some sort of magic. I'm not entirely sure dumping it in a fountain would do anything."

Ember was about to say something, but was interrupted when she glanced down. Eyes going wide, she let out a yelp. Cynder glanced down to see a wall of fire heading their way. Not wasting a second, the two dragons dodged out of the way. As the wall of flames dissipated, Ember looked over to Cynder.

"It's not like we have any other ideas! It's at least worth a shot!"

Cynder glanced down. She still wasn't sure about this, but she had already tried all her elements against it with no success. Knowing Ember was right, she looked over to her. "Alright. How are we supposed to do this?"

"First off, we should lead it towards the fountain. After that, we can use an attack to knock it in," Ember said, looking back down towards the fire elemental.

"My wind element should be enough to do that."

Ember looked back over to Cynder. "Alright. I'll go down and get its attention. When the time is right, attack!"

Cynder nodded, glancing back down at the elemental. With a determined look, Ember flew down towards it. As she did, the gravity of what she was doing finally hit her. She had just agreed to be, more or less, live bait, while the one who actually knew what they were doing was hanging back. She gulped.

What the heck had come over her? It was like she was on auto-pilot. Like she was more so _feeling_ than actually _thinking_. Was this what it was like to be in an actual battle? To be caught up in the heat of the moment?

Ember shook her head. Despite the sudden rush of fear, she brushed it off. Maybe it was just some form of instinct managing to overpower her fear, but she knew she couldn't back down now. The plan had been set, and she had to keep up her part of it. Landing on the ground, she glared at the elemental.

"H-hey! Over here!"

Ember felt her heart begin to race as the elemental turned towards her. The fountain was a ways behind her, and now she was set with the task of trying to trick it over to it. She wasn't entirely sure how, but hopefully it would come to her. The elemental raised its sword and sent a wave of fire towards her. Ember flew over it before landing on the ground again. The elemental tightened its grip on the sword, bringing a downward strike that sent another wave of flames towards her.

Ember rolled out of the way, panting heavily. This wasn't working. The elemental seemed more concerned with ranged attacks than pursuing her. She needed to bait this thing into chasing her, but she had no idea how. As the elemental charged up another ranged attack, Ember racked her brain for an answer.

_'What would my Spyro do?'_

That was the thought that eventually occurred to her. Barely jumping over another wall of flames in time, she began to think about this. Spyro likely would have tried just head-butted this thing over to the fountain, but that wouldn't work considering this guy was a living torch. There must have been something else notable he did in battles that could help her.

Ember was knocked out of her train of thought when the elemental suddenly sent several waves of fire at her. She let out a yelp, rolling out of the way. On the last wave, some of the flames ended up grazing her wing as she got to her paws again. She let out a grunt of pain, her wing going limp.

"Ember!"

"I-I'm fine! Stick to the plan!"

Ember looked up towards Cynder, who was giving her a worried look. Despite the pain she was feeling, Ember had blurted that out without really thinking. Maybe it was another case of being on auto-pilot in battle, but she had no time to think this over.

Looking back towards the elemental, she saw it getting ready for another wave of flames. She gulped. The pain of her wing would likely prevent her from taking off if need be. She started taking deep breaths, now more desperate than ever to figure a way out of this.

 _'Come on! There has to be_ something _Spyro does that can help me here!'_

Ember racked her brain. Head-butting wouldn't work, and fire-breathing didn't do much either. Those were the two things Spyro was famous for, besides—

_'That's it!'_

Ember lifted her head. If there was one other thing that her Spyro was famous for, it was the taunting of his opponents. Ember took a deep breath, glaring at the elemental. She wasn't the kind to make fun of people, but hopefully she could hit a nerve with something.

"Hey! You...you big matchstick!"

The elemental kept its focus on Ember, while in the air Cynder raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, you! W-what's the matter?" Ember said, trying her best to imitate her Spyro's tone of voice, though the shakiness of her voice, as well as her shaking legs, wasn't really helping the matter.

From the void, Scarlet narrowed her eyes. _'Ember? What are you doing?'_

_'Just trust me on this!'_

Ember narrowed her eyes, sitting down and crossing her forelegs. "Are you so afraid of a pink dragoness that you have to attack from a distance? What are you? A great flaming chicken!?"

The battlefield went silent. No one, not Cynder, not the elemental, or Ember herself, said anything after that.

_'Great flaming chicken...? Really?'_

Ember's face went flat at Scarlet's words. This was harder than it looked.

Shaking her head, she glared at the elemental. "Come on! I-I dare you to come over here!"

The elemental kept a close eye on Ember before he charged. Though this was what she had been trying for, Ember still felt an awful sinking feeling as the elemental drew closer. It brought down its sword once it was upon her, to which Ember barely managed to sidestep. Ducking under another swing, she began to slowly back up towards the fountain. If there was one thing she was grateful for, it was that, even though she wasn't great at fighting, she appeared to be pretty good at evading.

Ember managed to keep this up, panting heavily and letting out a few yelps every time the blade got a bit too close for comfort. The fountain wasn't far off now, only a few more back-steps. Ember jumped over the blade, landing on the ground next to the fountain. She looked back, seeing she couldn't backpedal anymore. The plan had worked; the elemental was now heading towards the fountain. As it went to take a wide swing at her, though, Ember realized she hadn't thought this part through.

She jumped to the left in hopes of avoiding the attack, but the elemental's sword ended up grazing her side. Ember let out a shriek of pain as she rolled onto the ground, clutching the wound as tears started to form in her eyes.

"Ember!" Cynder shouted, looking down with wide eyes.

Cynder glared back at the elemental, narrowing her eyes as she remembered the plan. Kicking up a whirlwind, she sent a massive gust towards the elemental. It turned around, quickly putting its arm in front of its face as it tried to brace itself. Flames parted from its body and sizzled into the fountain, leaving small puffs of steam. Finally, something gave way and the elemental stumbled back, smashing into the fountain with a splash. A cloud of steam kicked up, obscuring the struggling elemental.

As this was going on, Cynder looked back towards Ember. With great haste, she flew down next to her.

"Ember!"

Ember brushed the tears from her eyes. Though still in a lot of pain, for whatever reason—maybe not to ruin Scarlet's image in this world—she didn't want to let Cynder see her crying. She tried to put on a brave face. Cynder looked at the wound, blood dripping from it as Ember tried her best to cover it up. It wasn't fatal, especially for a dragon, but it was still very painful.

From the void, Scarlet looked on in concern. _'Ember! The spirit gems!'_

Being brought back to reality, Ember looked down at her necklace, touching it and bringing the bag of spirit gems out of it. Cynder's eyes went wide in surprise, but Ember was too focused on just dulling the pain. Reaching in and taking out a red gem, she smashed it. Absorbing its energy into herself, she felt the pain from her injuries starting to dull as her wound started to glow. Shrinking slowly, it stopped bleeding until only a small scar remained.

Despite the oddity of Ember's necklace, Cynder quickly shook it off. "You alright now?"

"Y-yeah," Ember said, picking herself up, closing one of her eyes as she felt a slight twinge of pain from where the wound had been.

"Good," Cynder said before glancing at the bag of spirit gems. "Where did you get those?"

"Terrador gave them to me before I went looking for you two," Ember said, looking down at the bag.

Cynder looked at the bag before looking back to Ember with a raised eyebrow. "Speaking of that, and I don't mean to sound rude, but... Why are you here? I thought you were sticking back at the temple?"

Ember glanced away from Cynder. "Uh...that's kind of a long story, actually. You see—"

Before Ember was able to begin, though, they heard a mighty cracking sound. Looking back, they saw water rushing everywhere as the fountain broke. The elemental stood, feet sizzling in the water. It was now significantly smaller, but glowing brightly as it kept its focus on the two dragons. Cynder narrowed her eyes at it before looking at Ember.

"You can explain it later. Right now, we need to deal with this thing," she said before looking back down at the bag of spirit gems. "Can you give some of those to Spyro? I'll hold this thing off in the meantime."

Nodding, Ember scooped up the bag of gems and started to head towards Spyro. Cynder hunkered down and waited for the elemental to make its move. The elemental charged as Cynder took to the air.

As the battle went on behind her, Ember rushed over to Spyro. He was forced to sit down, the burns on his body making it hard for him to even move. Stopping in front of him, Ember opened the bag of spirit gems and held it towards him.

"Here," Ember said, looking softly at him.

Spyro nodded, reaching into the bag as he winced in pain. Taking out three red gems, he smashed them on the ground. The burns quickly vanishing, Spyro breathed a sigh of relief as he felt the pain dissipate, allowing him to stand up properly.

"Thanks."

Ember smiled, breathing a slight sigh of relief that the gems had managed to fix the severe burns Spyro had sustained. However, she was quickly snapped back to reality as a flash of blue fire illuminated behind her. Both dragons looked on at the battlefield to see Cynder flying circles around the elemental, smacking it with poison whenever she got an opening. The elemental kept kicking up flames in an attempt to hit the dragoness, but each shot kept missing by a few inches.

Spyro took a fighting stance, growling slightly. "This thing is unlike any elemental I've ever fought before. No matter what we throw at it, it refuses to stay down."

Ember looked on, taking deep breaths to keep herself steady. It was true; even dropping it into the fountain had only served to make it angry. It was a fire that was out of control, a fire that not even water could put out.

A fire that was out of control...

Ember's eyes went wide. "That's it!"

Spyro raised an eyebrow, looking over to Ember. "What?"

"We have to fight fire _with_ fire!" she said, turning to Spyro with a determined look in her eyes. "Fire needs air to burn! When two fires are together..."

 _'...the bigger one sucks up all the air and smothers the smaller one out!'_ Scarlet said alongside Ember, remembering what she had told her earlier.

Ember kept a determined look about her as she turned to the elemental. "If we surround this thing with a ring of fire, it might weaken it enough to where we can finally take it out for good!"

Spyro narrowed his eyes, looking towards the elemental as he thought the plan over. "I don't know... Are you sure this'll work?"

"It's at least worth a shot!"

Spyro paused before he finally nodded. "Alright. Let's give it a shot!"

Giving her own nod, Ember felt a sudden surge of confidence as she and Spyro took to the air and flew towards the elemental. Adrenalin pumping, she flew close behind Spyro, face set with determination. As the two dragons made their way towards the battlefield, Cynder unleashed a siren scream to paralyze the elemental.

"Cynder! Get back!"

Cynder turned upon hearing Spyro's voice to see the two heading her way. Quickly pulling back, she watched as they started circling the elemental.

It took everything Ember had to keep her nerves steady. Though fighting the naga had given her a taste of what battle was like, this was something completely different. The sheer rush of energy she had as she circled the elemental was something she had never experienced before. It was like every fiber of her being was hyped up on caffeine, and all of it was focusing on taking down the foe in front of her.

Ember had to admit it. Though she could feel the nagging sense of fear in the back of her mind, part of her liked this rush of adrenaline.

"Now!"

As the word rang out, the two dragons sent forth a wave of fire towards the ground as they continued to circle around. The elemental threw his hand up in front of his face, staggering back as he tried to find a way out.

Despite the strain it was causing her, Ember refused to let up on the flames. She managed to steal a glance at the elemental, seeing it struggle and become increasingly more desperate to break free. As embers started to flicker off it, she could see the elemental slowly decreasing in size.

As the fire began to take hold around the beast, Spyro broke off. Ember was quick to follow, and they flew over next to Cynder. Through the smoke, they saw the elemental starting to decrease in size at a quicker pace.

"It's working!" Spyro exclaimed, muscles beginning to relax.

Ember smiled, taking a deep breath. She hadn't been sure if that plan would even work, but now that the elemental was slowly being smothered out, she could breathe a sigh of relief.

_'Don't relax just yet, Ember!'_

Ember's face went flat at Scarlet's words. She had been _really_ hoping that she wouldn't say that.

_'Look! The elemental may be weakened, but it's not done yet!'_

Ember squinted. Barely noticeable through the flames, the elemental struggled as it started to push its way through the fire. Ember groaned, catching the attention of the other two dragons.

"Ember? What is it?" Spyro asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's still going," she said flatly. "Even though it's weakened, it's still not out yet."

Spyro turned to the fire, seeing the elemental push past the flames. It was barely the size of the dragons by this point. Cynder smirked.

"No problem. By the looks of it, one solid attack should finally finish this thing for good," she said, looking at the other two. "Who wants the honors?"

Spyro was silent for a few seconds as he watched the elemental slowly staggering forward. Finally, he turned to Ember. "I think Ember should be the one to do it."

"W-what? Me?" Ember asked, eyes wide as she moved back slightly.

"Yeah. You're the one who managed to figure out how to weaken it enough to get to this point."

Ember paused, slightly biting her lip as she looked away. _'Yeah, but I don't think I have anything that could actually hurt this thing directly. I can't even try head-butting it because it's on fire...'_

 _'Don't worry about it, Ember. I think I have just the move to finish this thing once and for all,'_ Scarlet said, a confident tone to her voice. _'I was planning on teaching this to you earlier, but I never really got the chance. Better late than never, though. It's time you learned how to use the comet dash.'_

_'Is now really the best time for another lesson!?'_

_'Just calm down, Ember. I know you can do this. You managed to pick up everything else surprisingly quick, so I have no doubt that this will be easy for you to learn too.'_

Ember kept silent, feeling both Spyro and Cynder's gaze upon her, as well as Scarlet's eagerness to teach her the new move. With no real choice in the matter, she sighed.

"Alright," she said, her tone not very confident. Regardless, she made her way towards the elemental.

The elemental stumbled slowly forward, barely moving. The flames had done a number on it, and now they were in no real danger. Ember almost felt bad for it, though one quick glance at the scar on her side quickly reminded her of how dangerous this thing could be. She paused, her thoughts starting to straighten themselves out. Before everything that had happened started to sink in, though, Scarlet interrupted the silence.

_'Now then, using a comet dash is a bit different than merely breathing fire. While breathing fire requires you calling on the fire inside you, comet dashing requires calling on the fire around. Use your element to ignite the air and add some extra 'oof' to a normal head-butt.'_

_'Okay... I think I get that.'_

_'Good. Now, like before when you were just learning how to breathe fire, I want you to call on its power. This time, focus it around you, bring it into being. Once you do, I want you to charge into the elemental at full force!'_

Ember frowned, glancing down. Regardless of how she felt, it seemed like she was going to have to learn this sooner or later. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and began to focus.

From the sidelines, Sparx poked his head out from behind a rock. Feeling like things had calmed down, he floated out and over to the dragons.

"What's up with Pinky?" he asked, pointing to Ember. "She seems more out of it than usual."

"At least she actually helped, instead of hiding behind a rock," Cynder said, glancing at Sparx flatly.

Sparx frowned, crossing his arms. Despite the scene next to him, Spyro couldn't help but focus on what was going on in front of him. He had to admit, there was something about Ember that seemed off...

Ember took deep breaths, keeping focus. All she sensed right then were her element and the slowly approaching fire elemental. Trying to focus on summoning fire around her was different than merely breathing it, and yet at the same time, similar. Like with the fire inside her, she could sense the element around her wanting to come into being and be given form. She knew she couldn't force it; the multiple times she'd burned her throat told her such.

Despite the enemy in front of her, an odd calm came over her. With the feeling of her element by her side, she didn't feel like she was in danger in the slightest. She felt the air around her start to heat up as she let the element do its thing, using herself as a focus point to bring itself into being. It was almost like she had an ally fighting beside her, like she wouldn't have to worry about fighting alone anymore. Almost like it was a corporeal being...

Ember opened her eyes, a determined glint in them as the flames ignited around her. Despite appearing to be on fire, she didn't feel any sense of being burned. Without thinking, she charged forward, taking flight and horns bared. Flying full speed, she rammed into the elemental and it split apart, scattering embers across the field.

Skidding to a stop, Ember felt the flames dissipate. As if snapping back to reality, she faltered. She looked around, spotting the remaining embers of the elemental starting to fade.

 _'I... I did it!'_ she thought, looking around. _'I did it, Scarlet! I did a comet dash!'_

Despite Ember's excitement over what had happened, Scarlet didn't respond. In the void, she had a blank look on her face. Though she was happy that Ember had learned the attack, something about it bugged her. When one uses the comet dash, they were supposed to only have tendrils of flames around them. But Ember had appeared to be on fire entirely. And, just for just a second, Scarlet could have sworn she'd felt a presence next to Ember.

_'Scarlet?'_

_'Huh? Oh!'_ Scarlet finally snapped back to reality when Ember spoke. _'Very good, Ember! I have to say, you're a very quick learner.'_

Ember smiled before she heard the sound of paws heading her way. Looking back, she saw Spyro and Cynder standing in front of her.

"Good job."

Ember smiled at Cynder's words, sitting down for a short rest. "Thanks."

"It's a good thing you showed up when you did. You really helped us out here."

Ember's smile turned into a slight grin at Spyro's words. True, it wasn't _her_ Spyro, but it was nice to hear her idol say that all the same. The cheery scene didn't last long, though, as Sparx flew in front of the group.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm glad pinky showed up and kept us from turning into charcoal too, but am I the only one who notices the elephant in the freaky ghost-yard here? Namely, _why_ Pinky's here in the first place?" Sparx said, crossing his arms.

Ember cringed at Sparx's words. In all the chaos that had just happened, she'd completely forgotten she was going to have to explain the whole 'alternate universe Ember' thing. Glancing away awkwardly, she felt Spyro casting his gaze on her.

"Not to sound ungrateful, but Sparx does have a point," Spyro said, raising an eyebrow. "You said earlier how you wanted to stay behind, and with all that happened that made you choose that..."

Ember could feel beads of sweat starting to form on her forehead. Would they honestly believe her if she told them what was really going on? Even she was still having a hard time believing it. She could sense that, in the void, Scarlet was thinking more or less the same thing. She needed come up with something and fast. Maybe if she just omitted a few details of the story...

"Well... I'm still not sure myself. I know I said I wanted to stay behind, and with what was going on with me, I felt it was for the best," Ember said, unable to make eye contact with either of them.

"But shortly after you two left, the Chronicler himself contacted me. He said he could explain what was going on with me, but I needed to come to the White Isle first." Ember hated lying, even if it was only a small one or a half truth. What more could she say, though, without making them think she was crazy?

Ember glanced away as she noticed Spyro narrowing his eyes slightly. Was he picking up on the fact that she wasn't telling the whole truth? Luckily, before he could say anything, Cynder spoke up.

"Well, whatever the reason, you're here now," Cynder said in a soft tone. "With how you helped take down that elemental, I'd say that's a good thing."

The smile returned to Ember's face. She didn't really know Cynder all that much, but something about that comment made her feel proud of herself. Hopefully she would be able to explain the full truth to them soon enough. Maybe if the Chronicler told them the story, they'd be more likely to believe it.

Ember could still sense the apprehension Spyro was giving her, but as the purple dragon closed his eyes, Ember was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Alright. Welcome back, Ember," Spyro said, a look of indifference about him. He still felt like there was something more, but for now he was willing to let it slide. "Now then, the Chronicler shouldn't be too far off. Let's go."

Nodding, Ember followed close behind.

* * *

Cold air drifted through the halls of the temple as the dragons walked down the path. Spyro and Cynder were on alert for any more 'tests' that would be thrown at them, but Ember had her head down low as she walked. Her mind was still stuck on the battle that had occurred moments ago, and how she'd acted during it.

_'Scarlet?'_

_'Yeah?'_ Scarlet asked, her tone soft.

_'Are...are battles always like that? I mean, when you're in a fight, does it always feel like you aren't fully in control? Like some sort of other force is controlling your actions?'_

Scarlet paused, a slight audible hum of contemplation surrounding her. _'Well, that depends.'_

_'On what?'_

_'Several things, really. How many enemies there are, how well trained you are, and whether you can control your instincts.'_

Ember glanced up for a second, slightly raising an eyebrow before she looked back down. _'Instincts?'_

 _'Yeah, instincts,'_ Scarlet said, her tone taking a more knowledgeable turn. _'They're what every being is born with. No matter how advanced or refined a species may think they are, deep down they still have a set of base instincts that can easily override emotions and judgment in times of danger.'_

_'So, even dragons have them?'_

_'Yep,'_ Scarlet said, a sudden cheery tone in her voice. _'Even dragons.'_

Ember was silent for a few seconds, glancing back at the scar on her side. Looking forward, she went back to the internal conversation. _'Was that how I managed to sort of keep up with Spyro and Cynder back there? And why I managed to keep it together when that attack hit me?'_

_'Well... Yes and no. A dragon's base instincts are to survive. Even if they haven't had proper training, a young drake would still have basic combat skills they can access when in danger. Dragons also tend to have a higher tolerance to pain, too. When other dragons are around, we tend to brush it off as to not weigh others down.'_

Ember listened to Scarlet's explanation with an unmoving expression. Finally, she glanced up. _'Sounds like instincts are a good thing to have.'_

_'Well...again, yes and no. Though they're useful for those who haven't had training, they can also be a hindrance for those who do. Base instincts are usually the first thing a dragon needs to learn to control when they are learning to fight.'_

_'Why?'_

_'Several reasons, really. The urge to fight can make them miss obvious and more simple solutions, they can end up getting sloppy during battle, and can treat what could be life-threatening injuries as nothing more than a scratch,'_ Scarlet explained, a somber tone to her voice. _'In general, though instincts are good for those who don't have proper training, a well-trained dragon usually has a much better advantage, and instincts are liability more than anything else.'_

Ember was silent as she took in Scarlet's words. She'd never known there were so many things about being a dragon before this all had started. Back in her world, before all of this, she'd thought dragons were no different from any other species. Yet, from her few days here, she'd learned there were so many sides to them. A mystical side, a brutal side, and a primal side...

_'This is all so surreal...'_

_'How so?'_

Ember shook her head. _'It's just... I don't know. Maybe it's because I'm not from this world, but the more I learn about being a dragon...the more out of place I feel. In my world, the only things dragons know about themselves is that they can breathe fire and fly. Here, they can still do that, yes, but there are so many different layers to it, to_ everything _... I kind of miss only knowing that I can breathe fire, even if I used to burn myself when I tried to...'_

A silence came over them as Ember continued to follow behind the others. Finally, she heard Scarlet take a deep breath.

 _'I think I understand what you're saying. As the old saying goes: ignorance is bliss,'_ Scarlet said, her voice having a soft and caring tone to it. _'When I was learning about all this, I felt a bit overwhelmed too. I believe every dragon does at first. However, as time went by, I began to feel rather happy that there were so many sides to a dragon. It made me feel special, unique, like a one-of-a-kind being.'_

 _'Considering you're me from another world, you should begin to feel that way too, in time,'_ Scarlet said, a smile on her face. _'Be proud of being a dragon, Ember. Never forget that.'_

Ember went silent as she walked, taking a few seconds to process those words. A small smile appeared on her face. She heard Scarlet chuckle.

_'Besides, once you get back to your world, you'll get to teach the other dragons there about this too. I can see it now. A bunch of refined elders learning the basics of their abilities from a young pink dragoness.'_

It took everything Ember had not to bust up laughing, though she couldn't hide the smirk on her face. Sparx took note of it, raising an eyebrow.

"What up with you, Pinky?"

"Oh, nothing," Ember said, trying desperately to fight back her giggles. "Just thinking of something funny."

Sparx scratched the back of his head. Though he gave Ember an odd look, he eventually shook his head before he went back to following the others.

The lights began to dim as they went further and further into the temple. The air became colder as only the dim lights of candles lit their way. Before long, they came face-to-face with a large chamber, candles surrounding the area and giving off an eerie glow. It didn't take long for Spyro to recognize their surroundings.

"This is where I had to face my worst fears last time..." he muttered, looking around at the sealed-up doors. "But those doors were opened and there were paths through them to different challenges."

Ember glanced around. She felt out of place, trying to keep steady as the atmosphere of the room unnerved her greatly. Spyro still kept looking around, but he was interrupted when a voice spoke up.

_"One of you this trial has passed. Only those who have not come here must face the test. Your worst fear you both share, so you must face it as a pair. Open heart to summon ghost, face together what you fear most."_

Ember looked up to where the voice had apparently come from. She had a blank look upon her face as she stood silent.

"We have the same worst fear?"

Ember snapped back to reality, looking towards Cynder. The black dragoness had a confused look on her face, but it couldn't even begin to match the confused look on Ember's.

"I...I _guess?_ " was the only thing that could escape Ember's lips. _'Seriously... I have no clue. How can I share the same fear with a dragoness that's not even from the same world as me? Scarlet? Do you have any ideas?'_

All Ember was met with was uneasy silence.

_'...Scarlet?'_

_'H-huh? U-uh, I'm not sure either. Maybe it's just extreme coincidence?'_

Ember was silent, taking note of the unnerved tone of Scarlet's voice. Before she could press the subject any further, Spyro spoke up.

"You'd better hurry. We have to get to the Chronicler and find out what Deadlock's up to," he said, though he quickly turned his attention to Ember. "And figure out what's happening to you."

Ember gave a sheepish nod. Hopefully the Chronicler would have enough foresight to gently explain the fact that Ember already knew what was going on. She heard Cynder sigh.

"Alright. Ember, let's do it."

Ember nodded, following her into the light that had appeared. All the while, she could sense an air of unease coming from Scarlet...

* * *

Ember felt some slight disorientation as a new place began to form around them. From first glance, it kind of reminded her of her soul world, with floating ruins everywhere in a giant void. Of course, she quickly realized it wasn't the case, as her soul world didn't have giant floating jellyfish... _things_ in it.

"Where are we?" was the only thing she could think to ask.

Cynder was silent for a few seconds, glancing around, noticeably unnerved. "Convexity, or a copy of it..." Not a second later, her eyes went wide as the realization hit her. "That means... _Oh no!"_

"Well, well...look what we have here."

Ember raised an eyebrow, but her confusion was quickly replaced with a growing anxiety as she felt a sudden dark and menacing presence behind her. She took notice of how Cynder began to shake uncontrollably, a sign that did not likely bode well for either of them. Turning around, she reeled back.

There stood an adult dark female dragon. She was slender, eyes completely white as she glared at them. Ember had to take a moment to process what was happening, looking back and forth between the two. This dragoness looked almost like an exact copy of Cynder, only aged up and having an air about her that made Ember feel like she was about to be torn to shreds.

Cynder's fear was confirmed when she turned around, jerking back a bit as she began to shake even worse. Her gaze darted to Ember, her eyes wide.

"Ember... You're afraid of..."

Ember wasn't exactly sure _how_ to respond. Clearly, whoever this dragon was, it terrified Cynder to no end. However, other than the fact that it looked like Cynder, she had never seen this dragon before. She stood wordless, mouth open but no words escaping.

_'Scarlet? What exactly is going on here!?'_

All Ember was met with was silence.

_'Scarlet!?'_

Ember became increasingly unnerved, and the chuckling of this adult dragoness did nothing to help. Now faced with an apparent fear she'd never had, the look of betrayal and fear on Cynder's face, and the adult dragoness inching ever closer with a sadistic grin on her face, only one thought crossed Ember's mind.

_'What have I gotten myself into...?'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... yeah. Part one of the finale to the 'A New Dawn' arc is done. I know I said last time that this would be the final part to it but... really, do I need to say anything at this point with how almost every part was suppose to be the finale? Yeah. This has ended up going on for a lot longer than I had intended.
> 
> Just to note: This is not the finale of the fic in general. This is just for this specific arc. We're still a long ways off from the official ending.
> 
> Anyways, this chapter was a more battle heavy one. I felt like, after the long update last time and how it was mostly exposition last time, I needed some action to balance it out. This is another one of those times where I feel like Ember may be adapting too quick to what's going on around her. Riv said it was natural given that she pretty much has to in order to survive but... eh.
> 
> Anyways, there may be another gap between updates. I'm currently taking part in a collab for my other fic, Infinite Loops: A Tale of Two Realms, and have so far been pretty invested in it. I won't spoil what it is, but it's been really fun to write. I plan on focusing on that next sense I've been focusing more on this fic for the past few weeks, but once the collab is over, this should get back to a semi-normal upload schedule.
> 
> But how will the two dragons face this challenge? Why is Scarlet so quiet all of a sudden? And will Ember be able to keep her little adventure secret? Find out next time, on part two of the finale to the 'A New Dawn' arc!


End file.
